Science fiction and double-edged swords were on Kentucky lawmakers’ minds Monday as they discussed some potential applications and risks associated with artificial intelligence in state government and policy.
Legislators heard testimony from AI advocates – Ben Kaner and Alicia Schollaert of Gartner, an international consulting firm – about ways that state agencies could implement and benefit from AI while reducing some of the risks during a meeting of the Interim Joint Committee on Tourism, Small Business, and Information Technology.
Potential uses of AI could include chatbots for citizen engagement, data management, processing information requests and providing multilingual resources to Kentuckians, among others. Kaner warned the lawmakers about the risks of AI – that it could provide misleading information, reflect bias in data and give malign users smarter tools to attack government networks.
Kaner also said it will be key to deploy AI in a targeted fashion so that it can be used safely and securely.
“Let's not just scatter [AI] around and assume it's like magic dust,” said Kaner, a senior analyst.
“This is actually something where you need to focus on what can be achieved, what benefits can be delivered, and how.”
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle acknowledged the possible upside of AI’s application in Kentucky government, but voiced concerns about whether it could reduce jobs, mine data maliciously or hijack government networks.
Sen. Shelley Funke Frommeyer, a Republican from Alexandria, hopes AI can be used to provide some practical tools for teaching math and reading in Kentucky.
“Your presentation is incredibly timely because we’re grappling with so many education issues, and Kentucky continues to have some challenges, and we have fantastic teachers, but perhaps not enough teachers,” she said.
Schollaert said 51% of teachers are already using AI to cut down on administrative work and spend more time teaching. The AI advocate also said the technology can help teachers design lesson plans and provide one-on-one tutoring for students.
Not one, but two, Tom Cruise movies were mentioned by lawmakers during the proceedings. Rep. Ryan Dotson, a Republican from Winchester, brought up worries raised by the latest installment of Cruise’s “Mission: Impossible” film franchise.
[AI is] a very powerful tool … it can also be a powerful force for us to contend with in the future,” Dotson said. “I watched [“Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One"] last week and AI took over the nuclear codes. I know that’s a movie but, you know, art and life – they kind of correspond to some degree. We just can't just turn it loose. We have to put really good guardrails in place.”
Kaner said concerns about AI “developing a personality” are understandable, but unrealistic, and that the larger concern is bad actors weaponizing AI for their own ends.
“AI itself does not have any desires. It is not a human. It is very, very far from that kind of capability at the moment,” he said. “What you probably need to be more careful of is how humans are using AI to empower themselves.”
Democratic Rep. Daniel Grossberg, of Louisville, namechecked Steven Spielberg’s film “Minority Report,” which also stars Cruise, while discussing the potential of using the technology to support the work of Kentuckians rather than replace them.
“I think there's something innately unique about humankind [and] that we must maintain the control over developing our laws, enforcing our laws and judging each other and use [AI] just as a support tool,” Grossberg said. “What I don't want to hear about is complete replacement … at that point, we're taking away our basic humanity and we're just going to be cogs in the wheel of AI.”
Grossberg also said that AI has the potential to revolutionize Kentucky and the world, but that it must be handled with the same level of caution as nuclear technology or biological weapons because it could be used for “great evil.”
“If you think back 120 years ago, no one could conceive what electricity would do to humankind,” he said. “We're just scratching the surface in this conversation. It's absolutely essential that we do develop these protocols and these guardrails, just as when our grandparents first heard of the time that they were able to first split the atom in the Manhattan Project.
The Louisville Democrat went on to say that Kentucky needs to focus on ensuring it has “oversight on who has access to the technology” because of the “serious repercussions if someone goes off the rails with it.”
Kaner believes “a sharp sword cuts both ways” and that “appropriate guardrails, maturity and understanding” are key to the applications of AI in government as enthusiasm and concern around the technology develops.
“The hype should be driving policy, because many people are excited. That policy has to be in place to make sure this is delivered at scale and safely,” he said. “It is an opportunity to set up Kentucky to advance significantly in a way to provide services and the service it provides to its citizens.”
