The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors directed its staff last week to begin developing policies regarding the usage of artificial intelligence by its workforce.
After the board’s unanimous approval Tuesday, county officials began the process of establishing a working group that aims to develop policies that include ethical considerations, risks, data privacy and opportunities associated with the use of AI that will guide internal and external uses, according to a county release.
Board chair and sponsor of the directive Zach Friend said at the board meeting that AI was “unquestionably a transformational technology,” with both significant possibilities and challenges.
“I think it’s going to be one of the largest shifts that has occurred in local government since email and some of the other technological advancements,” said Friend. “But it’s happening at such a rate that it clearly needs some sense of a look internally to see how we put some guardrails around it. But yet, I think it’ll be a net benefit moving forward.”
The National Artificial Intelligence Initiative, created by Congress in 2020 to ensure U.S. leadership in AI research and development, defines AI as a “machine-based system that can, for a given set of human-defined objectives, make predictions, recommendations or decisions influencing real or virtual environments.”
One AI tool that has received a flurry of attention in recent months is the ChatGPT chatbot, known as a “large language model.” The chatbot can generate novel written responses to user questions in a matter of seconds by pulling from an enormous database of digital books, online writings and other media, according to a report from the Associated Press. Users can ask the chatbot to write an original poem or compose an email, for example.
In Santa Cruz County, Friend believes that some AI tools could potentially be used to analyze complex legal briefs, create lengthy requests for proposals in a short period of time or allow public works crews to view real time AI-generated photos to determine storm damage without having to physically be at the damaged location.
Still, he acknowledged that there can be issues with the veracity of some of the information produced by the models, making a county policy all the more urgent.
But the concerns don't stop there.
In March, more than 1,000 computer scientists, researchers and tech industry leaders signed a letter calling for a six-month pause on AI development, warning that AI systems “can pose profound risks to society and humanity.”
According to the county release, the policy will address, at a minimum:
- Data privacy and security, including refraining from sharing confidential and sensitive data with AI interfaces until the systems are determined to be operating in compliance with the federal law restricting release of medical information (under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) and other data privacy laws.
- Transparency, assuring that the use of AI is explainable to users.
- Accountability, including evaluations to ensure AI systems are accurate and/or operating appropriately.
- Fairness and bias, assuring that AI does not discriminate on the basis of race, sex or other protected classes.
- Informed consent, assuring users are informed and can opt out of using AI.
- Responsible, including the development of ethical guidelines for the use of AI technologies.
The board asked its staff to come back with a progress update in three months with an aim to develop interim AI usage guidelines while more comprehensive policy developments move ahead. Meanwhile, the county is encouraging its staff to experiment appropriately with the use of AI, according to the release.
Friend said Santa Cruz County is among the first local governments statewide to look at creating an AI policy, but added that the process is bound to evolve over time.
“It is an iterative process,” said Friend. “Every single time we make a change, it’s already going to be out of date on a policy like this, so this is really just giving more of a values-based framework on how to operate using this technology moving forward. I’m glad to see we’re taking the lead on that.”
(c)2023 the Santa Cruz Sentinel. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
