(TNS) — While potential uses of artificial intelligence made a huge splash in 2023, potential legislation meant to study or regulate it did not.
At least eight measures with a primary focus on the rapidly expanding field — including ones governing the use of AI in processing of health insurance claims and punishing its use in child sex abuse exploitation — were introduced in the state legislature and only one got a committee vote. With no House voting sessions scheduled before mid-March, none of the bills is likely to advance soon.
“Artificial intelligence is like a fire,” Rep. Robert Merski, D-Erie and prime sponsor of two of the measures, said of the need for legislation. “If you keep it in the fireplace, it is safe. But if your house catches on fire, you are in trouble.”
His comments Tuesday came as the House held a brief, nonvoting session and is not expected hold a formal voting session until March 18. The Senate on Tuesday held a short session in which Sen. Kim Ward, R-Westmoreland, was re-elected president pro tempore for a second year amid lofty praise from both parties.
The Senate is not scheduled to return to Harrisburg until next month.
Rapidly increasing use of AI by big business is getting some credit for the 2023 stock market rally that drove the NASDAQ index 43% higher and the S&P 500 about 24% higher. In Harrisburg, Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, R-Lehigh, introduced a bill that would make it a criminal offense to disseminate artificially generated depictions of individuals with the intent to “harass, annoy or alarm.”
That bill has been awaiting action in the House Judiciary Committee since late April.
“The legislative process is a slow one, and the technology is moving much faster than the speed of legislating,” said Mackenzie, who also is running for a seat in Congress representing part of eastern Pennsylvania. He said he sees a “lack of urgency” among lawmakers in addressing issues created by AI.
“Once there is a major issue here in Pennsylvania, people will stand up and say, ‘Why didn’t we do something about this?’” Mackenzie said.
The measures introduced in 2023 focused mainly on AI include:
Mackenzie cited a recent situation in New Jersey where high school students were accused of making AI-generated pornographic images of classmates. He said his bill is mean to deal with such “deepfake pornography” in Pennsylvania.
But he questioned the need for a state-driven study of AI. “The horse is already out of the barn,” Mackenzie said.
Another bill sponsored by Merski would make the “unauthorized dissemination of an artificially generated impersonation of an individual” a crime. That bill has been awaiting action in the House Judiciary Committee since June.
Merski said “generative artificial intelligence” can use a three- to five-second recording of someone’s voice to create an entire conversation with the same voice. That sort of potential criminal behavior, he said, must have a deterrent in law.
He also said he favors the bill calling for a study of AI. Merski said it would “give everyone in the House and Senate a clearer picture of what needs to be done.”
Ward, meanwhile, was showed with praise during the brief Senate session on Tuesday in which she was elected president pro tempore for the second consecutive year, after last year becoming the first woman to hold the top position in the chamber.
Republican majority leader Joe Pittman, R-Indiana, said Ward has “political acumen that is unmatched” while the top Democrat, Sen. Jay Costa of Allegheny County, called her “honest and straightforward.”
In her comments, Ward described the state Senate as operating with decorum unseen in Washington, D.C.
“What you don’t see if a bunch of mud-throwing,” Ward said. “We don’t do that here.”
