AUSTIN, Texas — A new committee formed by Texas leaders wants to learn more about how state agencies can use artificial intelligence (AI).
The new Artificial Intelligence Advisory Council plans to meet soon to discuss the use of AI, as well as to provide additional oversight and law suggestions to ensure systems are developed responsibly and ethically.
Since 2022, more than one-third of Texas agencies have been using artificial intelligence tools, according to the state's 2022 Biennial Performance Report.
State Rep. Giovanni Capriglione, who filed House Bill 2060, which formed the committee, said Texas wants to increase AI usage within state agencies to provide better services at a lower cost. But Capriglione said there are concerns about bias, abuse of the system, cyberattacks and privacy.
Currently, the technology is used in high-risk agencies like law enforcement and power infrastructure. AI is also still unregulated under state law, so Texas formed an advisory committee to study the technology and recommend policies.
"So, we need to make sure that we have a good regulatory framework where it can exist and grow here in the state of Texas," Capriglione said. "We need to make sure that we have the infrastructure right, that we have data centers and network and broadband that can handle."
Texas has already seen success using AI assistance. When many people were unemployed in 2020, the Texas Workforce Commission created a "virtual assistant chatbot" to help the backlog of people trying to sign up for benefits or find a job. Texas call centers are also using AI to communicate in multiple languages.
Capriglione said part of this effort is ensuring Texas has the workforce prepared to work with the technology.
"It doesn't require just necessarily people who know how to program or know how to be architects," Capriglione said. "It's going to require people at every single level to be able to interact, interface, and work with these new particle systems."
Capriglione said the committee will be made up of legal and ethical experts. Once they start meeting, they'll ask for public feedback about AI use in Texas.