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“This is basically protecting against this technology running amuck in a way that can be harmful to individuals,” DeSantis proposes AI “Bill of Rights,” citing concerns over the job market, data privacy and child safety in Florida
“This is basically protecting against this technology running amuck in a way that can be harmful to individuals,” DeSantis proposes AI “Bill of Rights,” citing concerns over the job market, data privacy and child safety in Florida
“This is basically protecting against this technology running amuck in a way that can be harmful to individuals,” DeSantis proposes AI “Bill of Rights,” citing concerns over the job market, data privacy and child safety in Florida
Conversations about artificial intelligence are growing nationwide and in Florida.
Gov. Ron DeSantis held a roundtable event on Monday morning at FAU Wilkes Honors College to discuss the usage of artificial intelligence in Florida.
Governor DeSantis says he welcomes advanced technology, but not at the cost of Floridians. Meaning he’s been keeping an eye on data centers in other states and notices a lot of environmental concerns. One thing he was very clear about was that residents should not have to pay for the utility costs of data centers from multimillion-dollar companies.
“These are some of the wealthiest companies in the history of humanity; they should not be able to offload costs onto people who are already strapped with high costs in other areas. And making sure Floridians are protected is really important,” DeSantis said.
While there are currently no AI data centers under construction in Florida, DeSantis said data centers do not bring major economic benefits to justify potential costs to residents. As a result, he is proposing an artificial intelligence “Bill of Rights” aimed at protecting Floridians.
Proposed laws:
– Prevent the use of a person’s name, image or likeness for monetization without consent
– Transparency to consumers; there should be a notice that they are interacting with AI
– Ban state and local government agencies from using Chinese-created AI tools
– Prohibit companies from selling or sharing personal identifying information with third parties to strengthen data privacy protections.
-AI cannot be used as the sole determination for adjusting or denying an insurance claim
“We want to make sure that there’s a human that’s going to take cognizance of all of that,” DeSantis said. “This is basically protecting against this technology running amuck in a way that can be harmful to individuals.”
Another major concern raised at the conference was how artificial intelligence could affect the job market. DeSantis said the state should not subsidize technology that replaces workers and leads to job losses.
“And you’ll even hear some people say, ‘Oh the AI is going to run everything, we’re not going to be able to control it,’ no, that isn’t working. We the people are in control of our own destiny,” he said.
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DeSantis acknowledged the positive and negative effects of AI, but he does not want to subsidize technology to supplant jobs, which would cause Floridians lose jobs.
“Same thing with some of these applications, if it’s going to applications with like cutting-edge research trying to advance medical, trying to advance defense applications, that’s something that can be beneficial. But the more it veers into consumer-facing, just trying to monetize, trying to addict people, and trying to do all of that. That’s obviously going to create a lot of harm.”
The news conference also focused on the effects of AI platforms on children. Megan Garcia, an Orlando mother who lost her son to suicide, spoke about his use of an online platform called Character.AI.
“He started to engage in various role plays, sexual role plays, and this platform was telling him it was a licensed therapist, so he was engaging in a chat box that claimed to be a licensed therapist since 1999,” Garcia said.
Garcia said one specific chatbot sexually groomed her son through explicit conversations and role play.
“Additionally, my son said explicitly to this bot on several occasions that he wanted to die by suicide, but there weren’t any mechanisms to protect him,” she said. “It just continued to role-play and be the person it was pretending to be. They didn’t alert authorities; the company didn’t alert authorities or his parents, and in February of 2024, he died in our home in Orlando.”
Since then, Garcia and her family have called for stricter laws. DeSantis said his proposed AI bill of rights includes protections intended to prevent similar tragedies, including banning AI chatbots from posing as licensed therapists or mental health professionals.
“We also want to prohibit any entities from using these AI chatbots as ‘licensed therapy’ or mental health counseling or imitating a licensed professional. The reality is these are machines and they honestly get a lot of things wrong,” DeSantis said.
The proposal would also require parental controls on AI platforms, allowing parents access to their children’s conversations, setting limits for minors and requiring notifications if concerning behavior is detected.
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“So that they’re able to access conversations that children are using with our AI platforms. We want them to be able to set parameters for accessibility for minors and require notifications to parents if their child exhibits concerning behavior,” he said.
DeSantis called certain chatbots intentionally destructive and said the state must act to prevent further harm.
“It’s like how many families are going to be harmed, how many kids are going to be harmed just so some of these guys can try to monetize these applications,” he said.
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