INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA — Lawmakers from around the country – including Florida – participated in the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) this week. One of the discussions revolved around putting legislative frameworks in place to regulate Artificial Intelligence (AI), as reported by Axios.
AI is the recent technological development that allows machines to perform cognitive functions typically associated with the human mind, according to the Brookings Institution. One of the most popular AI platforms is ChatGPT, launched in November 2022, where users can ask the AI questions in a text box and the AI will provide an answer or an answer closest to the request.
It has long been speculated that the corporations behind AI would use the tool to censor free speech. Elon Musk, the owner of X, the company previously known as Twitter, announced the launch of X.AI which he intends to be a rival to “woke” ChatGPT.
“The danger of training AI to be woke - in other words, lie - is deadly,” Musk tweeted.
The danger of training AI to be woke – in other words, lie – is deadly
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 16, 2022
Microsoft, Google, and IBM are in the top five of the largest AI companies. All three behemoths have shown track records of supporting Leftist political causes to the detriment of conservatives and free speech advocates. Microsoft was accused of blacklisting conservative websites and blocking them from receiving ad revenue. Google and IBM had to backtrack after they were found to be offering race-based fellowships.
Florida officials have previously worked to ensure free speech is protected from Big Tech when Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law a Digital Bill of Rights for Floridians.
“No longer will the Big Tech oligarchs be able to commandeer your personal information and deprive you of the right to access, confirm, or delete that data as you wish,” DeSantis said back in June.
More recently, while on the campaign trail in Iowa, DeSantis warned about the potential perils of AI technology.
“So, you have some of these big AI companies, a lot of their data, you know, is more woke. It does have a little bit of a political agenda. And so, there’s a lot of power to it,” DeSantis said.
The participants at the state legislative conference in Indiana are taking it upon themselves to begin discussions around tightening AI regulations, stating that they are not going to wait for the federal government to act. DeSantis hinted at similar measures.
“So as this happens, and there’s rapid development every month, every two months, we’re going to be looking to see, OK, you know, what is it that we need to do,” DeSantis said. “And if there are guard rails that need to be put in place, you know, I would be willing to do that. I think it’s important for society.”
