One of South Dakota’s major summer legislative studies is how to potentially regulate artificial intelligence and the regulation of internet access for minors.
Senators, major organizational leaders and more came to Pierre to discuss the implications of rapidly advancing technology.
Chrissie Young is the director for the Center for the Prevention of Child Maltreatment in the University of South Dakota. She said there is a constant evolution in how these topics are addressed, and as such its time to reframe the issue.
“I will start with me hoping to convince everyone to treat this as a public health emergency," Young said. "The estimated economic burden is about 9.3 billion for child sexual abuse in our country. That includes health care costs, productivity losses, child welfare, violence and crime.”
Young estimates the use of AI by predators has increased three-fold in recent years, including deepfakes of celebrities and revenge porn involving exes.
“We’ve talked a little about the benefits of artificial intelligence, and I’m certainly not here to say those are untrue, I think artificial intelligence has a lot of great qualities and will continue to improve over time," Young said. "On the flip side of that coin, there are bad actors that will utilize very good things for their own purposes.”
There are multiple bills and laws, at national and state levels, that are aiming to stop AIs exploitation. However, these laws have only just begun implementation.
“Parental controls and education – I think parents need to be aware of what’s happening with their children while they’re using the internet, I think parents need to have better options and use-friendly control features, but people just need to be aware of the dangers that are out there," Young said.
The board will continue to meet in the legislative offseason and may bring bills to address the matter to the Capitol next session.