ATLANTA – The General Assembly should pass legislation that regulates artificial intelligence without stifling innovation, a state Senate study committee recommended Tuesday.
The Senate Study Committee on Artificial Intelligence, which held eight meetings this summer and fall, unanimously adopted a 185-page report containing 22 recommendations for how lawmakers should address rapidly developing AI technology.
“AI has the potential to improve every Georgian’s quality of life,” said Sen. John Albers, R-Roswell, the committee’s chairman. “However, we must balance innovation with safeguards to protect privacy, fairness, and transparency.”
The development of AI technology is widely seen as a double-edged sword. While it promises to increase workplace productivity and produce life-saving drugs, it also threatens to replace large numbers of jobs now done by humans and compromise cybersecurity.
So-called “deep fakes” generated by AI are being used in criminal scams and political advertising, using false images and audio to fool people into thinking a family member or candidate for public office said something they didn’t or did something that never happened.
The study committee is calling for legislation aimed at deep fakes that would include transparency and labeling requirements aimed at identifying false images and audio.
A bill introduced in the state House of Representatives this year called for criminalizing the use of deep fakes in political ads. House Bill 986 overwhelmingly cleared the House but died in the Georgia Senate.
The study committee urged lawmakers to adopt a data privacy law similar to other states and embed requirements for transparency and disclosure in any legislation the General Assembly considers during the 2025 session starting in January.
The panel also recommended that every state agency, city, county, and school system develop a comprehensive AI plan.
The committee suggested state and local law enforcement agencies look for ways to use AI to increase the efficiency of emergency response and management and improve health-care outcomes.
The legislature also should expand tax incentives provided to Georgia-based entertainment projects that incorporate AI innovation, the committee concluded.
The committee’s report calls for continuing statewide efforts to update laws and regulations governing AI as the technology develops by creating a state board for artificial intelligence and keeping the study committee going next year.
“This is an ongoing process,” Albers said. “We are going to have to embrace AI. Doing it correctly will be our task.”