(The Center Square) — Virginia lawmakers are working on legislation to regulate artificial intelligence technology in the commonwealth.
The executive director of Virginia’s Joint Commission on Technology and Science presented the findings of a report intended to inform the development of AI legislation to the commission’s AI subcommittee.
The report contained four legislative recommendations: Codify VITA’s AI utilization policy, establish an advisory committee on AI, regulate AI use by private and public entities and strengthen data privacy regulations through an opt-in mechanism.
In January, Gov. Glenn Youngkin issued an executive order directing the Virginia IT Agency, also known as VITA, to develop an AI Utilization Policy that would govern the use of AI at state agencies, which VITA has done. The report recommends that VITA’s policy become part of Virginia law.
The advisory committee should be composed of members of the General Assembly, “civilian experts in AI technology and applications,” and the commonwealth’s chief information officer or his designee, according to the report. The report also recommends that the committee work with the governor’s AI Task Force (established by executive order) and VITA when appropriate.
The report recommended lawmakers craft legislation regulating AI using a “risk-based approach.”
“By using a risk-based approach, the General Assembly can ensure technologies that pose minimal risk to individuals and their rights (e.g., spell check, spam filters, tools like Grammarly) are not unnecessarily regulated while technologies that may pose a risk (e.g., algorithms used to determine whether individuals receive public benefits) require a level of human oversight,” according to the report.
Finally, the report recommended an opt-in mechanism rather than an opt-out default for technology users.
“Currently, consumers have the ability to opt-out of data collection practices and request their data be elated by companies,” it reads. “Creating an opt-in system would maximize consumer protections by prohibiting companies from using consumer’s data without their explicit informed consent.”
