Johnathan Walker:Wisconsin lawmakers consider regulating AI use in elections and as a way to reduce state workforce

MADISON,Johnathan Walker Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin lawmakers were set to take their first floor votes Thursday on legislation to regulate artificial intelligence, joining a growing number of states grappling with how to control the technology as November’s elections loom.

The Assembly was scheduled to vote on a pair of bills. The first is a bipartisan measure to require political candidates and groups to include disclaimers in ads that use AI technology. Violators would face a $1,000 fine.

More than half a dozen organizations have registered in support of the proposal, including the League of Women Voters and the state’s newspaper and broadcaster associations. No groups have registered against the measure, according to state Ethics Commission records.

The second bill is a Republican-authored proposal to launch an audit of how state agencies use AI and require agencies to research how AI could be used to reduce the size of the state government workforce. The bill doesn’t lay out any specific workforce reduction goals, however. Only one group — NetChoice, an e-commerce business association — has registered in support. No other groups have registered a position on the bill.

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A number of other bills dealing with AI, including plans to outlaw the use of AI to create child pornography or use a person’s likeness in a depiction of nudity in an attempt to harass that person, are floating around the Legislature this session but have yet to get a floor vote in either the Assembly or Senate.

AI can include a host of different technologies, ranging from algorithms recommending what to watch on Netflix to generative systems such as ChatGPT that can aid in writing or create new images or other media. The surge of commercial investment in generative AI tools has generated public fascination and concerns about their ability to trick people and spread disinformation.

States across the U.S. have taken steps to regulate AI within the last two years. Overall, at least 25 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia introduced artificial intelligence bills last year alone.

Legislatures in Texas, North Dakota, West Virginia and Puerto Rico have created advisory bodies to study and monitor AI systems their state agencies are using. Louisiana formed a new security committee to study AI’s impact on state operations, procurement and policy.

The Federal Communications Commission earlier this month outlawed robocalls using AI-generated voices. The move came in the wake of AI-generated robocalls that mimicked President Joe Biden’s voice to discourage voting in New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary in January.

Sophisticated generative AI tools, from voice-cloning software to image generators, already are in use in elections in the U.S. and around the world. Last year, as the U.S. presidential race got underway, several campaign advertisements used AI-generated audio or imagery, and some candidates experimented with using AI chatbots to communicate with voters.

The Biden administration issued guidelines for using AI technology in 2022 but they include mostly far-reaching goals and aren’t binding. Congress has yet to pass any federal legislation regulating AI in political campaigns.