Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) has the potential to transform a variety of industries, including state government and politics. In September Gov. Newsom directed state agencies to examine the risks and benefits of GenAI. Expect guidelines for procurement, use and training to be issued in January 2024.
Newsom also participated in an Artificial Intelligence roundtable in June with President Biden, whose administration has met with tech executives and released a “Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights.”
Peter Leroe-Muñoz, general counsel and senior vice president for technology and innovation at the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, said he was pleased that the governor’s office has been engaging with tech companies and other interested parties. AI, he said, has the potential to make government work more efficient and effective and services more accessible to Californians.
This week, the governor’s office issued the State of California: Benefits and Risks of Generative Artificial Intelligence Report. “When used ethically and transparently, GenAI has the potential to dramatically improve service delivery outcomes and increase access to and utilization of government programs.”
The report identified many common risks. GenAI systems may not have the same levels of accuracy for all subsets of the population resulting in algorithmic discrimination reinforcing existing inequalities. Model recommendations or predictions could yield biased outcomes, as well. On-demand pricing would restrict access to under-resourced communities.
The report identified new risks. Model performance is biased toward English and other “high-resource” languages. GenAI output doesn’t reflect the nuances of populations.
The addition of GenAI tools will require employee retraining. Certain industries may experience job displacement requiring proactive, comprehensive reskilling programs.
The high-quality output will generate convincing text, images, audio, and video bringing into question validity and reliability yielding a potential reduction in perceived trustworthiness of the entity using GenAI.
The State of California will regularly assess and update the findings of this report with significant developments as appropriate. To do this, the State will continue strengthening collaborations with academia, other governmental entities, industry, policy experts, organizations representing employees, and community based organizations.
After the guidelines for procurement, use and training are released in January 2024, expect a robust discussion about oversight and over-trusting.
If you have experienced job replacement without the offer of retraining to accommodate new technology or equipment, or any other discrimination, contact us online, or call (310) 432-0000. Our team has over 20 years of experience in representing only employees in cases against their employers. We are confident trial lawyers who will not hesitate to aggressively represent you in court.