PA Lawmakers Sound The Alarm On Artificial Intelligence

HARRISBURG, PA — With the sudden and rapid rise in artificial intelligence related products now available, lawmakers in Pennsylvania and around the world are scrambling to adapt to a new market with startlingly few safeguards and restrictions.

As with any product hurled with bottom line abandon into the free market, the consequences and impacts of AI products are only just beginning to be understood. And like any product brought into the world in this way, the general population are the test subjects.

Lawmakers are concerned. Several measures will soon be pushed forward in the General Assembly in an effort to react to the abrupt changes.

"In the next few years, artificial intelligence is going to revolutionize how we consume news articles, entertainment, create products, and do new things that we cannot imagine at this point," State Rep. Chris Pielli (D-Chester) said in a co-sponsorship memorandum, adding that it's an "exciting time."

See also: Artificial Intelligence Registry Proposed In PA To 'Minimize Risk'

"However, we cannot allow artificial intelligence to become a lawless Wild West and allow these systems and products to develop without guidance and structure," he said.

Pielli introduced one of the bills, which would commission a study to create a commonwealth agency to monitor and license AI products. Companies using AI to create news stories, entertainment, or other products could easily commit fraud or lie to consumers. Without an established licensing system, officials fear there will be no way to hold those responsible to account.

Pielli also introduced a separate resolution that would mandate companies to disclose that the content they produced was made by AI.

"As AI becomes more sophisticated, it will be impossible to verify the author of material and content produced," Pielli wrote. "In addition, the questionable veracity of AI content has the potential to spread false information or images."

A third measure in the General Assembly was put forward by State Rep. Robert Merski (D-Erie), who is advocating for a resolution for the state to complete a generalized study of AI. It's a companion piece to State Sen. John Kane's (D-Chester/Delaware) Artificial Intelligence Joint State Government Commission (JSGC) Taskforce proposal.

The resolution would study recent advancements and developments and evaluate impacts on the state's workforce, news consumers, and citizens at large.

"While AI has the potential to be a great tool, we must also be wary of its potential dangers and negative implications; whether it be an AI-generated voice clip of a politician or a health expert spouting disinformation, a fake memo written using a text-generating program or the threat it poses to labor and blue-collar workers through the automation of manufacturing and other jobs," Merski wrote.

All three new measures have not yet been introduced, but will be on the floor of the General Assembly in the coming days.

It's not the first effort by the state body to regulate AI. Earlier this year, a bill was proposed to create a state registry of all businesses that create software, or who have the intention to create software, that has artificial intelligence components. That bill was concerned with machine learning, which utilizes algorithmic logic that improves over time.

The registry would include basic information like the name of the company, the physical address of the company, the IP address, type of code being used, and the intent of the software, officials said.