Artificial Intelligence is currently at the forefront of Florida politics.
Several House committees will hold hearings to discuss the use of AI in Florida’s government and industries, and last week, Gov. Ron DeSantis proposed a new AI Bill of Rights during a news conference at The Villages.
On "The Florida Roundup", host Tom Hudson, spoke with Sonja Schmer-Galunder, a professor in AI and ethics at the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering at the University of Florida.
Schmer-Galunder spoke in favor of DeSantis' actions, calling it "exemplary" on LinkedIn.
“What is exemplary about the bill is that he is framing the bill of rights as rights of citizens,” Schmer-Galunder said. “This means that citizens of the state of Florida have a right to be protected by harms that come from a consumer product.”
During the news conference, DeSantis said Congress is attempting to block states from regulating AI on their own.
"And that would basically take away the rights of states to be able to do things to protect the people that are here," DeSantis said.
Schmer-Galunder compared it to regulating seatbelts and food, saying AI is a responsibility of the government to regulate, and it’s already behind on the subject.
She also compared it to social media and said lessons could be extrapolated.
“We can learn that self-governance doesn’t work,” Schmer-Galunder said. “The social media companies have been able to rule pretty freely and put a lot of technology out here that we didn’t necessarily ask for, without getting any public input.
"Only now, after the fact, through various governmental bodies, especially coming out of the European Union, they’re now adapting.”
Still, Schmer-Galunder said that there are still benefits to AI, and it can help in both the climate and health sectors, but regulations are necessary.
