AI Regulation
SB-1047 Safe and Secure Innovation for Frontier Artificial Intelligence Models Act – California Legislative Information (Bill Text SB-1047)
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“Existing law requires the Secretary of Government Operations to develop a coordinated plan to, among other things, investigate the feasibility of, and obstacles to, developing standards and technologies for state departments to determine digital content provenance. For the purpose of informing that coordinated plan, existing law requires the secretary to evaluate, among other things, the impact of the proliferation of deepfakes, defined to mean audio or visual content that has been generated or manipulated by artificial intelligence that would falsely appear to be authentic or truthful and that features depictions of people appearing to say or do things they did not say or do without their consent, on state government, California-based businesses, and …”
California’s Draft AI Law Would Protect More than Just People – TIME Magazine, by Dan Hendrycks, August 27, 2024 (In support of the bill)
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“Targeted at the most advanced AI models, it will require large companies to test for hazards, implement safeguards, ensure shutdown capabilities, protect whistleblowers, and manage risks. These measures aim to prevent cyberattacks on critical infrastructure, bioengineering of viruses, or other malicious activities with the potential to cause widespread destruction and mass casualties. Anthropic recently warned that AI risks could emerge in “as little as 1-3 years,” disputing critics who view safety concerns as imaginary. Of course, if these risks are indeed fictitious, developers shouldn’t fear liability. Moreover, developers have pledged to tackle these issues, aligning with President Joe Biden's recent executive order, reaffirmed at the 2024 AI Seoul Summit.”
California’s anti-AI bill undermines the sector’s achievements – Financial Times, by Anjeny Midha, July 25, 2024 (Against the bill)
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“Artificial intelligence has given the US technology sector a shot of adrenaline and the world a jolt of excitement. Every day, we’re interacting with tools that would’ve looked like science fiction only a few years ago. Generative AI can do everything from providing your child with a personalised tutor to designing novel medicines. Unfortunately, all this is at risk thanks to a new bill in California known as SB-1047, which threatens to stifle AI development. If it passes it will have a chilling effect not only on AI investment but the entrepreneurship that drives technological advancement around the world.”
AI and Elections
How Utah and Texas became the face of political deepfakes ahead of the 2024 election AI deepfakes have the power to drastically affect voter engagement in elections – Fast Company, by Henry Chandonnet, August 26, 2024
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“Swapping the means of spreading deepfakes may also heighten their influence. In his 2024 primary, Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan faced an ad portraying himself hugging Nancy Pelosi.The ad, which was paid for by the Club for Growth Action PAC, wasn’t spread via online channels, as is usually the case with deepfakes; it was printed in a mailer. The deepfake appears to superimpose Phelan’s body onto an image of Representative Hakeem Jeffries: Whether it was done with AI or Photoshop is still unknown. The incident spurred the Texas state government to action. In an April hearing, attorney Andrew Cates recommended updating Senate Bill 751, which makes spreading a political deepfake video a Class A misdemeanor.”
X changes AI chatbot after election misinformation warnings – The Hill, by Julia Shapero, August 27, 2024
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“The social platform X has updated its artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot Grok after five secretaries of state warned earlier this month that it was spreading false information about the election. When people use election-related terms in their inquiries to Grok, it will now direct them to Vote.gov, a nonpartisan government website, according to a press release from Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon. Simon — alongside Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver, Pennsylvania Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt and Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs — touted the changes Monday.”
AI and Public Engagement
AI in Digital Participation Tools - Where do we stand? – Democracy Technologies, by Laura Giesen, August 21, 2024
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“Almost two years after the launch of ChatGPT propelled the topic of AI, we take stock of AI in digital participation tools. What features are well established, what is in development, and what are visions for the future? As it turns out, the functionalities in actual widespread use are few but tools in development and visions for the future are many.”
The US Government Wants You—Yes, You—to Hunt Down Generative AI Flaws – Wired, by Lily Hay Newman, August 21, 2024
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“At the 2023 Defcon hacker conference in Las Vegas, prominent AI tech companies partnered with algorithmic integrity and transparency groups to sic thousands of attendees on generative AI platforms and find weaknesses in these critical systems. This “red-teaming” exercise, which also had support from the US government, took a step in opening these increasingly influential yet opaque systems to scrutiny. Now, the ethical AI and algorithmic assessment nonprofit Humane Intelligence is taking this model one step further. On Wednesday, the group announced a call for participation with the US National Institute of Standards and Technology, inviting any US resident to participate in the qualifying round of a nationwide red-teaming effort to evaluate AI office productivity software.”
AI and Public Service
AI-Powered Search Drives Intelligent Texas Child Support Tool – Government Technology, by Rae D. DeShong, August 21, 2024
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“When the Texas Office of the Attorney General (OAG) looked at challenges facing child support field case workers, time-consuming research stood out as a major pain point. Reducing time spent finding the most current legal and practice documentation turned out to be a project that could be done with existing tools, creating a single knowledge base and a robust AI search tool for the OAG’s Child Support Division. CIO Tina McLeod and Chief Data Officer Antonia Hernandez were on hand during the Texas Association for Strategic Solutions and Collaboration in Computing (TASSCC) 2024 conference earlier this month, where they took a deep dive into creating an intelligent search engine.”
Police have begun using AI to write incident reports – StateScoop, by Colin Wood, August 27, 2024
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“Some police officers have begun using generative artificial intelligence to write their reports, concerning watchdogs and delighting the officers saved from the tedious office work, the Associated Press reported this week. Axon, a company mostly known for its body cameras and Taser product line, announced Draft One last April. The software, which draws information from body camera audio recordings, is already being used by officers in Oklahoma City; Fort Collins, Colorado; and Lafayette, Indiana, the AP reported. Competitors Policereports.ai and Truleo offer similar products.”
Colorado County Adds AI to Its Emergency Communications – Government Technology, by Julia Edinger, August 27, 2024
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“In the coming weeks, Jeffcom 911 hopes to have the Carbyne Call Triage solution active, which will use AI in a unique way to address call surges. For example, if there is a large wildfire in the county, there is often a major influx of calls from people reporting smoke or fire. If the county is already responding to that incident, an influx of calls can deter resources from addressing other emergencies, like heart attacks. But with machine learning, this technology can identify the location of the incident that people are likely calling about. Screening calls to ensure callers are not reporting a major event that is already being addressed will allow the county to more effectively use the time of “that finite resource, which is the human,” Brewer said.”
How to Build Progressive Public Services with Data Science and Artificial Intelligence – The Political Quarterly, by Helen Margetts, Cosmina Dorobantu, and Jonathan Bright August 16, 2024
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“The new government faces an urgent challenge: revitalising the UK's crumbling public services without major increases in public spending. While technological change holds promise, UK digital government initiatives have failed to reach their full potential over the past twenty-five years. This article argues that the latest generation of ‘data-intensive’ technologies, including data science and AI, can succeed where past efforts have faltered. We provide a roadmap for how to harness the power of recent technologies for a more productive and equitable public sector, and pinpoint the organisational changes necessary to develop progressive, technologically enhanced public services.”
Preparing Public Agencies for Harnessing AI: A Study on Variables Shaping Multi Actor Information Infrastructures – Electronic Government, by W. van Donge, M.F.W.H.A. Janssen, and N. Bharosa, August 21, 2024
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“While governments around the world are seeking to harness the power of artificial intelligence (AI), attaining high-quality information as input for training AI-models remains a major challenge. Policymakers looking to boost AI readiness in the public sector need high quality multi-actor Information infrastructures (MAIIs) to obtain high-quality information. It is unclear which fundamental decisions can be made to shape information-sharing infrastructures for governmental purposes, even though there is some literature on these infrastructures. The main goal of this paper is to identify key variables for shaping MAIIs. Drawing on literature, expert interviews and qualitative data analysis, this paper reveals multiple variables classified into three main categories: (1) information-sharing process, systems, and services, (2) information (format), and (3) governance structures. Findings indicate that considering these variables in an early stage is needed to maximise the benefits and limit the risk of failure in shaping an MAII.”
