Gov. Jay Inslee on Tuesday signed an executive order directing state agencies to study uses for artificial intelligence (AI) that makes new text, images, videos and audio — known as generative AI — and to write initial guidelines for its use.
The order comes as artificial intelligence has become a more prominent issue since the release of ChatGPT in late 2022.
Inslee said state agencies will work with WaTech, which runs the state’s technology and information security services, to look at how feasible it is to integrate artificial intelligence into their operations and services, and to determine the “benefits and challenges” of doing so.
“It’s our duty to the public to be thorough and thoughtful in how we adopt these powerful new tools,” Inslee said in a statement.
State lawmakers, who are about a third of the way through a short legislative session, have in the past year or so started looking at the issue as the use of programs like ChatGPT has become more common.
Attorney General Bob Ferguson has requested legislation to create a task force on artificial intelligence.
Under Senate Bill 5838, the task force would study how artificial intelligence is used in the private and public sectors and would make recommendations to the Legislature around using and regulating it.
Senators have also introduced Senate Bill 6299, which would bar employers from using reproductions of an employee’s voice or likeness without their consent, and from using artificial intelligence to evaluate or make employment decisions without notifying the employee in writing at the time of their initial hire or within 30 days of when the employer starts to use artificial intelligence for that purpose.
