May 1—The Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce hosted its annual Legislative Day on Tuesday, which saw many regional bigwigs, lawmakers and lobbyists meet in Columbus to talk shop and ask questions about some of the most pressing issues facing southwest Ohio businesses.
The Dayton Daily News was in attendance. Here are some takeaways from the event:
1. Artificial intelligence gets closer to the mainstream
As artificial intelligence becomes more available, the tech is going to have "a massive impact on everything you do," promised Michael Richards, a senior policy director focused on technology for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
While the concept or technology isn't exactly new, advancements in computing power and speed will soon allow the tech "to really scale on the level in which we can really utilize it for a lot of basic things, a lot of the different sectors," said Richards.
He — and much of the business sector — has an admittedly optimistic outlook on how AI is going to lead to medical innovations and discoveries or make work easier for employees, which would in turn make companies and governments more efficient, even when short staffed.
Richards pushed back against the fear that an AI boon might lead to more humans losing their jobs, or that it might take "humanity" out of some industries. Such an outcome has been predicted for years, he said, and it's never come to fruition.
An outcome he does expect, along with Google's Senior Policy Manager Joe Dooley, is that more and more political campaigns will begin leveraging AI.
The tech can be used to create or alter images, quickly analyze voter data on a granular level, and reduce time spent on repetitive tasks such as campaign mailers or press releases. As Dooley said, AI " lower(s) that bar for them to make sure that you, as voters and constituents, are getting what you need from them."
"A campaign or government officials who do leverage artificial intelligence in their work, they are able to use it to come up with higher quality content in many cases that is more of interest, it speaks more to the people who they are asking for their vote and that they are responsible for serving in their official capacities," Dooley said.
2. Government regulations on AI loom
Dooley, who represents Google's interests in policy discussions in state legislatures throughout America, said he's seen many states open discussions on regulating AI this year.
Here are the trends he's seen in state government: — The development of rules around disclosing when artificial intelligence is used in campaign communications or political advertisements; — The creation of laws to punish individuals who use AI image software to depict minors in sexually explicit situations; — The adoption of best practices in how government agencies or officials could use AI to better serve their constituents; — The creation of exploratory commissions to get the full grasp of what regulatory steps need to be taken to minimize AI's negative impact.