Lawmakers discuss regulations surrounding AI

ALBANY, N.Y. (WTEN) -- Whether it's creating essays, images or even drafting a bill, Artificial Intelligence seems to do it all. Our Capitol Correspondent, Amal Tlaige spoke with lawmakers who discussed their experience using AI and what guardrails should be put in place.  "Artificial intelligence is anything, any processes that can be used to replace human tasks. I want us to control the technology, not the other way around," said Assembly member and chair of the Subcommittee on Internet and Technologies, Clyde Vanel.

Capitol Correspondent, Amal Tlaige was told, back in November certain programs became available to the public such as GPT that are based on large language models, allowing systems to understand natural language weighs in. "What’s interesting now is that we have these programs and these technologies is on a level of generative AI where it’s doing more of general think," said Vanel.

The Assembly member tested it out for himself. He used an AI program called Auto GPT, to find gaps in New York laws and create a bill based on those gaps. It created a bill that would require landlords provide a copy of lease agreements to renters within 30 days of a written request.  "Guess what? At this point, this can write a bill. What about my job? We have to make sure that we properly build the guard rails and the proper regulatory regime to be able to take advantage of these technologies," said Vanel.

That seems to be the question on everyone’s mind. With AI becoming more sophisticated, will businesses rely on the program rather than employees? That’s why Senator Jake Ashby is co-sponsoring a bill that would create a task force to investigate and regulate AI. "I think it’s important that we don’t impede innovation, that we really try to better understand it before we regulate it, we don’t want a rushed approach and we don’t want just to just open the gates on this either," said Ashby. The bill passed in both houses and awaits the Governor's signature.