ATLANTA – Georgia lawmakers on both sides of the state Capitol are taking their first serious look this fall at how rapidly evolving artificial intelligence technology is likely to affect public policy.
A House subcommittee formed to study the issue already has begun holding hearings, while two Senate committees are set to launch a parallel effort Nov. 1.
“The first thing we need to do is educate our fellow legislators on what artificial intelligence is,” said Sen. John Albers, R-Roswell, chairman of the Senate Public Safety Committee, which will take up AI in conjunction with the Senate Science and Technology Committee.
“Some people believe AI is a disruptor similar to when Uber came out, or the iPhone, or even the internet. This will literally change everything we do.”
The development of AI technology is being 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 already 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.
“Deep fakes can be really damaging,” said state Rep. Brad Thomas, R-Holly Springs, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Artificial Intelligence. “We’ve got to make sure the technology isn’t being used in ways that harm people.”
Bills related to artificial intelligence were introduced in at least 25 state legislatures this year, and 15 states adopted bills or resolutions, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Examples include Maryland, which established a grant program to help manufacturers implement new AI technology, and Texas, which created an advisory council to monitor AI systems developed or employed by state agencies.
At the national level, a U.S. Senate subcommittee chaired by Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., held a hearing in June during which Ossoff described the growth of AI as an “existential threat” to U.S. labor markets and Americans’ right to privacy.
At two hearings last month, Ossoff raised the specter of AI being used in political ads to distort candidates’ views on issues and questioned technology experts about AI’s implications for national security.
Academia also has become heavily involved with artificial intelligence. Jonathan Shihao Ji, a computer science professor at Georgia State University, received a $10 million federal grant this month to advance research in AI with a focus on human-robot interaction.
“It has been claimed recently that AI is the new electricity,” Ji said. “It can empower and will transform almost every industry in the next several years.”
The Georgia Tech Research Corporation landed a $65 million federal grant last year to accelerate the adoption of artificial intelligence by Georgia industries including semiconductors, batteries, food production, and aerospace.
Albers said he plans on bringing in AI experts from Microsoft and large consulting firms, as well as technology lawyers, to testify before the two Senate committees.
“We’re going to go through a methodical process on how [AI] will affect state government, education, health care, public safety, [and] how it will impact … local cities and counties and school systems,” he said.
Typically, legislative study committees that meet between General Assembly sessions come up with recommendations for lawmakers to consider during the next session. But Thomas said the legislature needs to move at a more deliberate pace on artificial intelligence to avoid unintended consequences.
“I want to make sure we do due diligence, not do something we didn’t intend to do,” he said.
Albers said any legislation the General Assembly develops to address AI will evolve over time.
“What we do in 2024 will be different from what we do in 2025, 2026, 2027, and 2028,” he said. “I want to be careful not to stifle innovation but with a sense of urgency so we can establish some parameters.”
Gov. Brian Kemp is sworn in for his second term by Justice Carla Wong McMillian in an inauguration ceremony at Georgia State Convocation Center in Atlanta on Thursday, January 12, 2023. (Arvin Temkar / [email protected])
ATLANTA – Gov. Brian Kemp has instructed the state treasurer to buy $10 million in bonds from Israel to support its military response to last weekend’s brutal attack launched by Hamas militants.
The $10 million was the highest amount available on the bond market and brings Georgia’s current investment in Israel via bonds to $25 million.
“Israel is one of Georgia’s strongest allies and greatest friends, and our support for its people as they endure horrific attacks from terrorists is unwavering,” Kemp said Friday. “Purchasing these bonds is just the latest expression of that support.”
Rocket attacks and raids into Israel from the Gaza Strip since last Saturday have killed 1,300 and injured about 3,300, according to the Israeli government. About 150 kidnapped hostages are thought to have been taken to Gaza.
Gaza’s health ministry said more than 1,500 Palestinians have been killed and more than 6,600 others wounded in Israeli air strikes on the blockaded enclave.
The governor, Georgia First Lady Marty Kemp, and their three daughters led a delegation of state officials to Israel in May on an economic development trip. Kemp met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Isaac Herzog, and other Israeli officials to discuss security in the Middle East and other issues.
ATLANTA – Just a year and a half after completing a $1 billion project to deepen Savannah Harbor from 42 feet to 47 feet, the Georgia Ports Authority is launching another deepening plan.
The agency is asking U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Savannah, and Georgia’s two U.S. senators, Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, to seek congressional authorization for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to study the economic and environmental impacts of another deepening project. The study would be funded next year through legislation reauthorizing the Water Resources Development Act as well as some non-federal funds.
The earlier deepening project, which took 25 years to navigate bureaucratic red tape and build, was designed to accommodate containerized-cargo ships with capacities of up to 8,200 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs).
However, vessels with capacities of more than 16,000 TEUs are now calling at the Port of Savannah. Ships that big can’t make it up the Savannah River to the port at low tide, causing delays that make the port less productive.
Once the study is completed and if it green lights the project, Congress would be asked to fund construction.
Griff Lynch, the ports authority’s executive director, did not mention the deepening project at Thursday’s annual State of the Ports luncheon updating state and regional business and political leaders on other planned improvements at the ports of Savannah and Brunswick. However, he acknowledged the request to study the implications of another deepening project during remarks to reporters after his luncheon speech.
ATLANTA – Opening up privately held stretches of trout streams in North Georgia to public fishing would ruin a cottage industry vital to the region’s economy, a parade of waterfront property owners warned state lawmakers Thursday.
Many farmers along the Soque River and other mostly narrow, shallow streams in the mountainous region operate fly-fishing guide businesses on the side. They use the income to help keep their farms in business rather than being forced to subdivide their lands and sell to developers.
“These waters are extremely sensitive to overfishing,” Emily Owenby, founder and operations coordinator at Noontootla Creek Farms in Blue Ridge, told members of a Georgia House study committee at a hearing in Clarkesville. “If we allow the public to access our streams, we will see immediate devastation. … You can’t promote a fishery that no longer exists.”
The study committee was formed this year after the General Assembly passed a bill on the last day of this year’s legislative session guaranteeing Georgians the right to fish on navigable portions of the state’s rivers and streams. The measure was in response to a lawsuit filed by a property owner along the Upper Flint River seeking to ban public fishing along his stretch of the river.
Some of the language both in Senate Bill 115 and the House resolution that created the study committee has waterfront property owners worried the state will seek to broaden the definition of “navigable” waterways to encompass privately held stretches of rivers and streams.
Mark Alley, who owns a farm in Habersham County that is split by the Soque, said the river in no way should be considered navigable.
“We’re talking about a strip of land a few feet wide covered by a few inches of water,” he said.
Alley and other speakers Thursday said property owners along the Soque and other trout streams in North Georgia spend thousands of dollars each year stocking fish and maintaining stream banks to sustain a trout population adequate to support a fly-fishing industry that draws tourists from around the world.
They said a state takeover of those privately held stretches of waterfront not only would kill their businesses but represent an unconstitutional taking of private property without compensation.
“Leave the Soque alone,” Marty Simmons, who owns and operates a trout fishing venue along his Soque River property, told the committee. “Let us take care of it.”
Committee members sought to assure the property owners who attended Thursday’s hearing that the legislature does not intend to expand public access to fishing by confiscating private property.
“There is not going to be a change to the definition of navigable waters,” said Rep. Will Wade, R-Dawsonville.
“The intention is to find clarity,” added House Majority Whip James Burchett, R-Waycross, the study committee’s chairman. “The property owners and fishermen all want to know, where can we fish and where can we not?”
The committee is scheduled to hold two more hearings this month and make final recommendations to the full House by Dec. 1.
A long line outside South Cobb Regional Library in Mableton stretched around the block on the first day of early voting for the Nov. 3, 2020, elections. (Photo by Beau Evans)
ATLANTA – A federal judge has denied motions to temporarily block several provisions of controversial election reform legislation the General Assembly’s Republican majorities passed two years ago.
Several civil rights groups challenged restrictions in Senate Bill 202 on absentee voting and the placement of absentee ballot drop boxes, claiming the new law will make it harder for Black voters in Georgia to cast their ballots next year.
But U.S. District Judge J.P. Boulee ruled against the motions for a preliminary injunction Wednesday, declaring that the plaintiffs failed to prove the legislation was intended to discriminate against voters based on their race.
The provisions at issue included limits on the number of absentee drop boxes, an ID requirement for voters casting absentee ballots, and a ban on volunteers providing food and water to voters waiting in line at the polls.
“We are disappointed that the challenged provisions of SB202 will remain in effect during the 2024 election cycle,” said Rahul Garabadu, senior voting rights attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union’s Georgia chapter. “But our legal challenge is far from over. … We will never stop advocating on behalf of our clients and voters across the state.”
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, Republican, praised the decision.
“Today, the court confirmed what we’ve been saying all along,” he said. “SB202 strengthens election integrity while increasing the opportunity for Georgia voters to cast a ballot.”
The plaintiffs had brought the lawsuit before last year’s elections. But the judge declined to issue a ruling at the time, contending that changing voting laws close to an election would confuse voters.
The General Assembly passed SB202 after Democrats had scored major gains in Georgia in the 2020 election cycle, including Joe Biden’s victory over incumbent GOP President Donald Trump and the capture of both of the state’s U.S. Senate seats.
Absentee voting played a major role in the pandemic-era 2020 elections, with drop boxes being used for the first time. Critics said many drop box locations lacked adequate security measures.
