The Texas Public Policy Foundation hosted a discussion about the future of responsible Artificial Intelligence policy.
Zach Whiting, policy director at TPPF and a Senior Fellow at Better Tech for Tomorrow, started off the discussion by explaining that Texas should not wait for Congress to take action, but should lead in crafting responsible and human-centric AI policy.
“Much of today’s conversation will revolve around the question of, how do we responsibly, transparently, and effectively harness the power of AI as well as minimize any irreparable harms that may come from AI,” said Whiting.
Yet, panelist and State Rep. Giovanni Capriglione (R-Southlake) said it is hard to write legislation concerning AI that the public and the tech companies will both get on board with. In other words, legislation that does not create overburdening regulation for businesses but still protects an individual’s privacy.
“And as you can imagine, it’s hard to come up with a bill that everybody likes, right? The red lines on what people want sometimes contradict with one another,” said Capriglione.
Capriglione added that the ultimate goal is to create a model that other Republican states can follow.
David Dunmoyer, the campaign director for Better Tech for Tomorrow and co-author of a recently released research paper on AI policy, further explained, “Texas has the strongest data privacy law in the country, and we’re going to work to ensure that we have the strongest, most pro-innovation, pro-consumer AI bill in the country, in Texas too.”
His paper explains that crafting an AI measure is no small task as it requires much more than just principles. It requires great detail in language precision and definitions all while making sure that the building blocks of human dignity, transparency, privacy, and accountability are included.
“Texas has the legislative leadership and thoughtful interim and stakeholder processes to be a national leader in crafting sound policy solutions that will serve as a model for sister states—and perhaps even Congress and the rest of the world—to follow,” the paper states.
Capriglione has not yet filed a measure on AI policy, telling the audience it is still in the process of being drafted.
Texas’ 89th Legislative Session begins January 14, 2025 and ends June 2, 2025.
