New Hampshire lawmakers plan to discuss next week whether to establish new guardrails for the use of artificial intelligence by state agencies.The House is expected to vote on a bill that would set rules for state employees, with lawmakers saying it’s important that when it comes to artificial intelligence, New Hampshire doesn’t get left behind.”I think it’s going to be changing our lives quite a bit, and it will be in ways that we don’t necessarily see,” state Rep. Tom Cormen, D-Lebanon, said. “It will be in recommendations that it makes. It’ll be in decisions that are made by AI that maybe you don’t even realize are being made.”Cormen is the retired chairman of the Dartmouth College computer science department. As a new state representative, he has filed a bill to establish guardrails for how the state uses artificial intelligence.>> Download the free WMUR app to get updates on the go: Apple | Google Play < CONCORD, N.H. — New Hampshire lawmakers plan to discuss next week whether to establish new guardrails for the use of artificial intelligence by state agencies. The House is expected to vote on a bill that would set rules for state employees, with lawmakers saying it’s important that when it comes to artificial intelligence, New Hampshire doesn’t get left behind. “I think it’s going to be changing our lives quite a bit, and it will be in ways that we don’t necessarily see,” state Rep. Tom Cormen, D-Lebanon, said. “It will be in recommendations that it makes. It’ll be in decisions that are made by AI that maybe you don’t even realize are being made.” Cormen is the retired chairman of the Dartmouth College computer science department. As a new state representative, he has filed a bill to establish guardrails for how the state uses artificial intelligence. >> Download the free WMUR app to get updates on the go: Apple | Google Play << The legislation covers a wide range of potential activity, from prohibiting the use of AI for any public surveillance activity without a warrant to providing oversight for AI-based decision-making. “The best example would be if an AI is making a decision or a recommendation that, once implemented or executed, cannot be undone, then you need an appropriate human in the loop,” Cormen said. Support for the bill has so far been bipartisan. Other representatives who work in tech said this is the easy part, because AI will reshape the economy. “It could displace jobs and require retraining of individuals, and not just low-level jobs, but attorneys, accountants, data analysts,” state Rep. Keith Ammon, R-New Boston, said. “So, it’s very disruptive, and we should really stay ahead of it. The genie is out of the bottle.” Denis Goulet, the state’s commissioner of information technology, said there’s already a code of ethics for using AI in place. He said he believes it’s important for his department to have flexibility to deal with unexpected issues. “I’ve been following this and watching this and feel pretty well-educated, and I still feel like we’re learning stuff really rapidly,” he said.
