"You're always going to have human oversight," Lamont told reporters on Wednesday during an impromptu news conference in the Legislative Office Building. "I think people feel a lot more comfortable. Look, AI is here. We can regulate it, the little state of Connecticut, but at the end of the day people gotta know how to use it, gotta know how to ask the right questions. I agree with all the restrictions we're putting on the social bots, making sure the kids are protected. I think that's my focus: protect the kids."
Lamont's remarks, after an unrelated event, came a couple hours before the legislative General Law Committee, voted to draft bills on both consumer privacy and online safety that will soon become the focus of public hearings and likely committee action.
Maroney, D-Milford, co-chairman of the General Law Committee, said during the panel's meeting Wednesday afternoon that the two bills are priorities for the majority Democrats in the Senate. "We're looking at updating our consumer data privacy; to put some restrictions on how facial recognition is used; looking at labeling around dynamic pricing, which is something that's being done in New York State."
Maroney, who is recent years has failed to persuade Lamont to put tighter regulations around the nascent AI industry, said another potential goal is to put restrictions on how data is shared from license plate readers. CT Insider recently reported that out-of-state agencies have searched thousands of times through data collected by Connecticut police departments' license plate cameras to possibly use in immigration enforcement.
The online safety bill builds off legislation that died on the House calendar last year after clearing the Senate. Maroney expects this year's bill will be drafted to provide chatbot protections; and employment disclosure so people applying for jobs will know that AI is involved in their applications. "Ninety eight percent of companies are using AI for screening resumes for employment," Maroney said. "This will give people the right to know this is happening."
The bill will also include workforce-training sections. "The goal is to make Connecticut the most AI-literate state in the country," said Maroney, who in recent years has become a nationally recognized expert on AI, but has seen Lamont threaten to veto bills that the governor said could stifle industry and innovation. The new bill would expand the state's public AI Academy. and help businesses with 25 or fewer workers to adopt AI for their specific needs. Encouraging AI's uses in public schools and government would also be included in the legislation, which could likely become the subject of a public hearing later this month.
The committee voted unanimously to draft the two bills.
Lamont said that with 1% of the nation's population, it is more effective in getting together on a regional basis to agree on AI laws. "I'm working with other states to see how we can work together to protect our kids and protect our privacy," said Lamont, who said he conferred recently with Maroney on the issue. "Obviously there's a lot of focus in terms of the kids and protection of the kids and giving parents the wherewithal to protect their kids, making sure that that kid can't get access to some of those algorithms that can be particularly dangerous without parental permission.
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