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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) – AI regulations are seemingly stalled in Congress even after the state’s top lawyer filed a lawsuit against OpenAI earlier this week.
As the state looks towards the future regarding AI regulations, a wide array of experts say Congress ultimately needs to set some rules, but recent civil lawsuits could lead to a change in Florida.
One of the cases that sparked the new calls for regulation involved the tragic shooting at the campus of Florida State University last year. But the Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has expanded his probe beyond that case by filing a civil lawsuit in which he also alleges a chatbot encouraged a Lee County man to kill himself.
“[We] get companies to choose public safety over profit. But if we have more tools coming in, I hope the legislature will come in next year and get it done. It saves lives, no doubt,” the AG said on social media Thursday.
The Global Risk Advisory Council has also labeled AI its top risk for the last two quarters and Peter Selfridge, a member of the council, said more can and should be done.
“The legislature in places like Tallahassee, Congress in Washington, I’m sitting in Paris. I know that the assembly here is debating it. There’s a lot more that can and probably should be done to regulate parts of the technology,” Selfridge said.
He added that it scored an eight out of ten on the council’s risk scale.
“It was ranked as the top risk by our members two quarters, as you mentioned, and it received an eight out of 10, 10 being the highest risk,” he said. “So that’s pretty high by a majority of our council members.”
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Lee Paris, a Florida-based attorney, said it’s about public safety and judges can apply historic principles to this emerging technology.
“You need accountability, transparency, safety, and it’s up to the court system to toy with the legal principles and apply the facts to the law and the evidence and see what happens here,” Paris said.
He added that the litigation could lead to new safeguards being installed.
“Innovation is not going to relieve responsibility in these situations. And while technology has incredible benefits, you need the requisite safeguards. And that’s where we’re at. It’s sort of uncharted water,” Paris said.
He added that lawyers and judges might look to past cases involving rideshare companies or social media for guidance, though it’s too early to tell how the civil lawsuits might play out.
Early adopters of the “Tea Party” movement, like Amy Kremer of Humans First, are also calling for regulation, even though she says that’s normally antithetical to free market ideals.
“It makes me feel like a fish out of water saying, ‘We need Congress to pass a law.’ But it is their responsibility and this, like I said, it’s the most powerful technology in the world and in human history,” Kremer said.
She added that she supports President Donald Trump’s executive order on AI, but said it was watered down from the original version. Plus, she said, executive orders can be revoked. Kremer puts the onus squarely on Congress.
“There are more regulations on a hot dog from a vendor that you would buy in New York City than there are on these big tech companies that are pushing frontier AI systems,” she said.
Each of the civil lawsuits is still in its early stages, and companies like OpenAI maintain that they have robust protections.
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