SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — As companies increasingly integrate artificial intelligence technology into Americans' daily lives, California lawmakers want to build public trust, fight algorithmic discrimination and outlaw deep fakes related to elections and pornography.
California's efforts, home to many of the world's largest AI companies, could pave the way for AI regulation across the country. Lawmakers and experts say the U.S. already lags behind Europe in regulating AI to limit risks, and that the fast-growing technology could lead to job losses, misinformation, privacy violations and cybercrime. Automation Bias.
A series of proposals aimed at addressing those concerns were introduced last week but must receive House approval before reaching Gov. Gavin Newsom's desk. The Democratic governor has touted California as both a regulator and an early adopter, saying the state should Generative AI tools are readily available While addressing highway congestion, making roads safer and providing tax guidance, the administration New Rules Oppose AI discrimination in recruitment activities.
California, which already has strong privacy laws, is in a better position to enact impactful regulations than other AI-focused states such as New York, said Tatyana Rice, vice president of the Future of Privacy Forum, a nonprofit that works with lawmakers on technology and privacy proposals.
“We need data privacy laws before we can pass any AI legislation,” Rice said. “We're still watching New York, but we're hoping for more from California.”
California lawmakers said they are not ready to act immediately, citing hard lessons learned from failing to rein in social media companies when they had the opportunity, but they also want to continue attracting AI companies to the state.
Let's take a closer look at California's proposal.
Combating AI discrimination and building public trust
Some companies, including hospitals, are already using AI models to make decisions about employment, housing and healthcare options for millions of Americans. Not much supervisionAccording to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, up to 83% of employers use AI in their recruiting efforts, but how these algorithms work remains largely a mystery.
One of California's most ambitious anti-AI measures this year will lift the veil on these models, establishing an oversight framework to prevent bias and discrimination. Companies that use AI tools will be required to participate in decisions that determine outcomes and to notify people affected when AI is used. AI developers will have to conduct regular internal reviews of their models for bias. And the state's attorney general will have the power to investigate reports of discriminatory models and impose fines of up to $10,000 per violation.
AI companies may also soon be required to disclose the data they use to train their models.
Employment and image rights protection
Inspired by Hollywood actors strike lasts for months Last year, California lawmakers wanted to prevent workers from being replaced by AI-created clones. Major issues In contract negotiations.
The proposal, backed by the California Labor Federation, would allow actors to break existing contracts when vague language allows studios to freely use AI to digitally replicate their voices and likenesses, and would require actors to be represented by a lawyer or union representative when signing new “voice and likeness” contracts.
California may also impose penalties for creating digital clones without the consent of the deceased's family. A fake, AI-generated, hour-long comedy special. Reproducing the style and material of the late comedian George Carlin without permission from his estate.
Regulating Powerful Generative AI Systems
Because generative AI creates new content like text, audio, and photos in response to prompts, it carries a lot of real-world risks. That's why lawmakers are considering mandating guardrails for “very large” AI systems that could spit out instructions to create chemical weapons or aid in cyberattacks, or other disasters that could cause at least $500 million in damages. Such models would be required to include a “kill switch,” among other things.
The bill, which is backed by some of the most prominent AI researchers, would also create a new state agency to oversee developers and provide best practices, including more robust models that don't yet exist, and would also give state attorneys general the ability to take legal action in the event of violations.
Banning political and pornographic deepfakes
The bipartisan coalition aims to prosecute people who use AI tools to create content. Child sexual abuse imagesLaw enforcement agencies say current law doesn't allow district attorneys to prosecute people for possessing or distributing AI-generated child sexual abuse images if they don't depict real people.
Democratic lawmakers also support legislation to combat election deep fakes. AI-generated robocalls A deepfake video imitating President Joe Biden's voice was posted ahead of the New Hampshire presidential primary. The proposal would ban “materially deceptive” deepfake videos related to the election in political direct mail, robocalls, television ads and more 120 days before and 60 days after Election Day. Another proposal would require social media platforms to label election-related posts created by AI.
