But the state's information technology chief executive worries that any legislation crafted at the State House may become obsolete and leave state regulators unable to deal with rapid societal advances brought by AI.
This is one of several fronts the topic is playing out on during the 2024 legislative session as New Hampshire House committees tackle AI-specific bills on civil law, political campaigns, state agencies and personal defense.
"I am really concerned about AI impinging on our rights," first-term state Rep. Tom Cormen, D-Lebanon, told the House Executive Departments and Administration Committee during a recent hearing on his bill (HB 1688), which has bipartisan sponsors.
Cormen was on the Dartmouth College faculty for 29 years and has worked in the computer science field for 50 years. He's the primary author of "Introduction to Algorithms." The 1,300-page text, in its fourth printing with more than a million copies sold, is widely considered the seminal instructional work on the subject.
The proposed bill would prevent state agencies from using AI in ways that resulted in discrimination against any person or impacted any individual based on factors including "age, genetic information, color, ethnicity, race, creed, religion, national origin, ancestry, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, marital status, familial status, pregnancy, veteran status, disability or lawful source of income."
Cormen said it's critical to encourage responsible use of AI in government. His bill would permit biometric identification of individuals (facial recognition) and the use of AI for higher-education research, state and local law enforcement work, common applications and in the interpretation of state laws, including sentencing.
Use of any AI application by the state not expressly allowed under law should not occur unless it's authorized by a human being, the bill stated.
Rep. Dan McGuire, R-Epsom, who has a doctorate from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, supports Cormen's approach.
"Let's go slow and be careful. We have something new here. We don't need to be way out in front," said McGuire, a retired computer engineer and investor.
Information Technology Commissioner Dennis Goulet said New Hampshire state agencies already are responsibly exploring potential uses for AI.
He said it could be premature to adopt a law on the subject.
New Hampshire was one of the first states to have a code of ethics and policies for agencies to follow, he said.
"Executive branch agencies are running hundreds of solutions, and many vendors are already adding a number of AI applications," Goulet said.
The state's Information Technology Council is uniquely suited to track this progress and help determine when the Legislature should weigh in, he said.
"I don't feel like we are there at this point," Goulet said. "I want to be able to act quickly and not have to wait for a legislative session to change what we are doing regarding AI."
Some House committee members pushed back on letting state regulators retain full control without lawmakers weighing in on it.
"Don't we have to address it now? The technology is here," said Rep. Latha Mangipudi, D-Nashua.
Goulet agreed when it comes to AI that the "train is very rapidly leaving the station."
"Major software platforms in the state, all of them are adding AI capacity and for the most part it is not going to be in their interest for their customers to misuse that technology," Goulet said.
Curbing voter disinformation
Over on the House Election Laws Committee, state Rep. Angela Brennan, D-Bow, is pursuing legislation to outlaw the use of AI in political advertising (HB 1596)
"This is an area of technology... it is a new age. We are not used to this yet, but we can't sit back and do nothing," Brennan said during a recent work session on the bill.
"If we do nothing then the courts, the attorney general, the secretary of state, law enforcement will have no tools in their toolbox to go after things that intentionally try to deceive voters, commit fraud."
The bill was conceived before last month's deepfake robocalls that used an AI-generated copy of President Joe Biden's voice to urge Democrats not to vote in the first-in-the-nation primary.
But Rep. Jim Qualey, R-Rindge, said the bill would accidentally snare innocent people who passed on an AI digital ad or presentation that they didn't know was fake.
"A lot of details in here are subjective," said Qualey, a civil and defense-industry-related engineer.
"They have the potential to chill people's exercise of free speech rights; I don't know how you fix that, but it is an objection I have to this bill."
State Rep. Jeffrey Greeson, R-Wentworth, proposes creating a new legal right for someone to bring a civil suit for the fraudulent use of AI, with damage awards of up to $10 million per claim.
This bill (HB 1432) before the House Judiciary Committee also would ban the misuse of AI in elections, with civil fines of up to $5,000 for each violation.
© 2024 The New Hampshire Union Leader (Manchester, N.H.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
