Platinum Perspective: California Leading the Artificial Intelligence Conversation in Washington, DC and Sacramento

Over the last several weeks, the United States Congress, the Biden Administration, several federal agencies and a number of state legislatures have convened meaningful and valuable conversations around the potential regulation of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Platinum Advisors is actively engaged in these conversations on behalf of our clients around the country. The State of Celifornia, its representatives in Congress, its flagship technology companies and research and development institutions, and its state legislature will play a unique role in the coming deliberations over how to enable the development of artificial intelligence without exposing Americans to substantial harm.

U.S. Representative Jay Obernolte (R-CA-23), a former California State Assemblymember and the only member of Congress with an advanced degree in AI has emerged as a leader in this policy area due his extensive professional background in technology and his valuable ability to explain these complex concepts to his fellow Members of Congress and constituents alike.

Rep. Obernolte was recently featured in the Washington Post regarding his knowledge of this important policy discussion as well as his recent insightful op-ed in The Hill where he states that AI’s “benefits to society will likely far outweigh the costs,” even if it requires “a major shift in our education system, our workforce and our laws.”

Back in Sacramento, Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan (D-16) introduced legislation (AB 331) earlier this session seeking to address potential algorithmic discrimination when automated tools are utilized to make consequential decisions related to healthcare, housing or hiring.

The Golden State’s capital is not alone in seeking to address potential harms of AI. Around the country, a number of states have been working to examine these important issues further by creating formal state task forces or working groups to provide recommendations. Other legislatures have introduced legislation seeking to prohibit use of AI or automated decisions systems in certain instances or seek to make their use more transparent for the public including Connecticut, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas.

This week the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law held a hearing entitled Oversight of A.I.: Rules for Artificial Intelligence that included testimony from Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI.

This month, the White House convened a meeting that included Vice President Harris and Commerce Secretary Raimondo as well as the executive leadership of four American companies at the forefront of AI innovation including OpenAI, Anthropic, Microsoft and Google to share concerns about the risks associated with AI. To date the Biden Administration has been active on this front releasing its Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights and related executive actions announced last fall.

Earlier this year, The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) released its Artificial Intelligence Risk Management Framework (AI RMF 1.0) as a guidance document for voluntary use by organizations designing, developing, deploying or using AI systems to help manage the many risks of AI technologies.