Georgia state senators work on real world guardrails for fantastical world of AI • Georgia Recorder

Way back in the 1940s, science fiction writer Isaac Asimov set out to create a system of ethics for robots and humans to coexist and came up with three laws of robotics:

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

For the “I, Robot” author, artificial intelligence was a far-off fantasy, but next month, Georgia lawmakers will be tasked with putting laws on the books to guide human-AI interactions in the real world, and they will likely consider more than just three laws. State senators gave a glimpse into their intentions Tuesday, approving a 185-page report that includes recommendations for the next session, set to begin Jan. 13.

Roswell Republican Sen. John Albers, chair of the Senate Study Committee on Artificial Intelligence, signed off on the report after a unanimous vote. A House committee is set to release its own report later this month.

“The report you see has got a lot of different action items,” he said. “They don’t actually call on any specific bill at this point, but you can certainly see that coming, and that will be done in a myriad of ways. Some of that will be things such as data privacy and protection, which we’ve worked on in the past. Some things would be things such as deep fakes, which we’ve worked on in the past. Other things might be edicts from the governor’s office, where he and his staff may want to do certain things for certain agencies.”

The report calls for each state agency, as well as all 538 Georgia cities, 159 counties and 181 school systems to track their AI usage and monitor for safety and efficiency. It also calls for the creation of a new state board of artificial intelligence.

Albers and other Republicans on the committee emphasized that their intention is to provide what they called guardrails on the new technology while not stifling innovation.

“As we approach these kinds of things, we’re not approaching this with a regulatory mindset,” said Acworth Republican Sen. Ed Setzler, who chairs the Senate Science and Technology Committee. “We’re approaching this as a thing that, sometimes, government does best when it does least, so we don’t start with a framework that this is something we need to regulate.”

Several industries could expect targeted AI benefits. The report calls for expanded incentives for Georgia-based entertainment projects that incorporate “AI innovation” in an attempt to keep Georgia’s film and entertainment creators from moving their operations overseas.

Lawmakers could create a grant program for small farmers to adopt AI technology, which can allow real-time insight into soil conditions and predictive insights for crop yields, but can be too cost-prohibitive for mom and pop farms.

“Many of us saw movies years ago, and we think of, you know, ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ or ‘Terminator,’” Albers said. “All those different movies that embedded these things into our heads. And while there’s truly a healthy fear, we should make sure we’re working to put those guardrails in place.”