Connecticut Senate passes AI protection, investment bill
Connecticut’s Senate passed an AI protection bill 32-4 on Tuesday. The bill’s goal is to protect residents from AI harms and employment discrimination, while also aiming to invest in workforms programs to prepare residents for an “AI-driven economy.”
Among the bill’s goals, one is to hold AI chatbot companies to make “reasonable efforts” in detecting suicidal ideation or self-harm language and respond with resources for help.
It would also require notifying any workers when AI is being used to make hiring and employment decisions, and preventing employers from using AI tools that would discriminate, according to lawmakers.
When it comes to AI in the workplace, the bill includes “training and resources for nonprofits and small businesses to increase AI literacy.”
The bill would also establish an AI “sandbox program” aimed at fostering “responsible innovation under appropriate regulatory oversight,” lawmakers said.
State Sen. Doug McCrory (D-Hartford) said Connecticut businesses and families are “already navigating an economy reshaped by AI.”
“This bill addresses both sides of that reality: it puts real protections in place so that no one, especially our young people, is harmed by an AI system that was never designed with their well-being in mind, and it makes sure our community has access to the training and resources to compete,” said McCrory.
“We can no longer wait for D.C. to act,” said State Sen. James Maroney (D-Milford).
The bill now heads to the Connecticut House.
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