Winter Rant

California’s Senate proposes AI Accountability Act (archived link). The bill, CA SB 896, landed on Jan 3rd (2024), and it seems to be focused on the state govt.’s accountability when using AI, with a specific focus around the usage of Generative AI.

This is interesting, because this is the first instance where I am seeing a government (at any level) apply guardrails on its own usage of AI. I am sure there are other such instances (I just do not happen to know of any).

It is refreshing to see an example of tech regulation that goes beyond private players and is applied on a government. It is naive to think that governments won’t use generative AI, and it is important to enact clear boundaries on what is acceptable use of AI by those in power.

Here is an excerpt from the bill’s opening paragraphs:

This bill would also require a state agency or department that utilizes generative artificial intelligence to directly communicate with a person, either through an online interface or telephonically, to clearly and in a conspicuous manner identify to that person that the person’s interaction with the state agency or department is being communicated through artificial intelligence.

Bill Text: CA SB896 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Introduced | LegiScan (web archive)

– vijay, thinking about sleeping early today 🛌