Lawmakers are once again looking to regulate artificial intelligence, including so-called deep fake pornography and misinformation.
A similar bill stalled during last legislative session, but proponents say it’s important to set rules around the emerging technology.
“We need to put some guardrails in effect to make sure what we’re using is safe, fair and accurate,” Sen. James Maroney (D-Milford) said.
One of the more notable sections of the bills seek to crackdown on AI-generated pornographic images and videos, including both the creation and sharing of such images.
Maroney said it would be an extension of the state’s existing revenge porn law, which doesn’t currently apply to images that are created using AI.
Some people say the bill needs to go further.
Alexis Austin, of New Britain, said someone stole a picture of her while claiming he created the image entirely from AI.
“People are second-guessing what is real and what is fake,” Austin said, adding several people, whom she didn’t know, reached out to her after seeing the image.
She said the person even posted the picture on some dating sites. Austin, who runs her own business, worried these kinds of actions could hurt someone’s reputation or result in identity theft.
“Using someone’s image and exploiting them for financial gain needs to be protected because that’s more what happened to me,” she said.
Maroney said this bill is focused on the biggest potential harm from AI, but future legislation could try to address Austin’s situation.
Maroney’s facing pushback, meanwhile, from businesses.
Other parts of the bill seek to prevent discrimination by employers, landlords and others who use the technology to filter through applications.
But some businesses say some of the regulations could also limit innovation and development. It’s a concern Republicans share.
“We have a really biotech sector developing around the New Haven area and this would send people somewhere else,” Rep. David Rutigliano (R-Trumbull) said.
Gov. Ned Lamont has voiced similar concerns in the past, causing last year’s version to stall.
Lamont is on an economic trip to India, but Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner Daniel O’Keefe repeated those concerns Wednesday.
“Rather than being a state that welcomes and supports innovation, we become the only state in the region that resists,” he said.
Last year’s bill cleared the Senate, but Rep. Matt Ritter (D-Speaker) wanted Maroney and Lamont to work out a compromise before the House voted on it.
On Wednesday, he said he doesn’t think Connecticut should take the lead on regulations that could send businesses to other states.
“Colorado in and of itself is not enough for Connecticut to say that other states are doing it, I’d want to see a much more robust national movement to do it,” he said, referencing Colorado being the only state with a law in place regulation AI.
Maroney noted other states have started raising their own proposals and he hopes a broader show of support will address Lamont’s concerns.
