Discussion at a recent meeting of Indiana lawmakers centered on media reports of a California teenager whose parents are suing Open AI after its program allegedly contributed to their son's suicide.
Among the lawsuit's allegations are that the 16-year-old expressed a desire to let other people know about his suicidal thoughts — only for ChatGPT to encourage him to keep them secret.
Rep. Matt Pierce (D-Bloomington) said that's a problem he's wrestling with.
"So, we as policymakers have to understand — how is that technology actually working to generate that kind of response and then what, if anything, should we be doing about it so those kinds of responses don't get generated," Pierce said.
READ MORE: Indiana task force on artificial intelligence begins second year of work
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Adam Brown leads the Office of Technology Services for Indiana's Legislative Services Agency. He said it might be worth looking at old laws. He pointed to how lawmakers treated the auto industry in its early days.
"And somehow we determined, over the course of a lot of years and a lot of old law, who was liable when the brakes went out vs. the vehicle went out vs. driver problems vs. impaired driving, all those things," Brown said.
The task force will continue meeting in the coming weeks.
Brandon is our Statehouse bureau chief. Contact him at bsmith@ipbs.org or follow him on Twitter at @brandonjsmith5.
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