By Macy Meinhardt, Voice & Viewpoint Staff Writer
Discussions on a new bill package for tighter Artificial Intelligence standards led by Senator Steve Padilla (D-San Diego) are underway —proposing for the state to have a stronger hand in the industry currently dominated by foreign tech interests.
Senate Bills 892 and 893 prompt California to “utilize its economic muscle” as leverage for the creation of a safe and ethical framework for AI services providers contracting with state agencies—notably in the standards of establishing safety, privacy, and nondiscrimination protocols.
San Diego’s AI Landscape
According to a Brookings Institution report, San Diego represents an “above-average” involvement in AI activities in comparison to other metro cities. However, currently, the investment model and standards governing these AI practices are set by a few private companies developing the technology, which experts say have created a regulatory vacuum with low oversight.
“Trusting tech titans to act responsibly, we completely abdicated our responsibility to create safeguards for social media and are now paying the price. We cannot repeat that disaster by allowing a handful of tech billionaires to operate AI without oversight, accountability, or restraint,” Padilla’s Jan. 3 statement reads.
AI is defined as, “computer-based automation that seeks to simulate or enhance human decision-making,” according to the San Diego Regional EDC, which has published five localized analyses since 2020 on AI development in San Diego.
Within their reporting, a survey found that roughly 25,000 to 30,000 San Diego County Firms are engaged with AI technologies on some level. In the past year, the service has opened a floodgate of public usages through chat-bot services such as Chat-GPT, which can assist with a range of tasks, including generating creative content, answering questions, providing information, and engaging in interactive and natural language conversations.
Moreso, AI technologies show a promising future within the city’s planning efforts.
Based on the San Diego EDC findings, “When implemented, AI-ML has the potential to help San Diego companies expedite life-saving drug discovery, thwart cyber threats, and revolutionize transportation and logistics. More importantly, AI-ML can help cities and regions improve affordability and quality of life for residents, as well as support job growth and business expansion.”
Yet, with such few hands involved in the creation of the automated and algorithmic services of AI, discriminatory concerns arise due to the lack of diversity among the software creators.
Biased Input Yields Biased Output
“A.I. is built on models of people, and people have their own biases and challenges,” Joy Dixon, a software engineering manager, told California Black Media back in September. “Computers aren’t neutral.”
Their reporting points to a Bloomberg Equality in Tech analysis which observed over 5,000 AI generated images of Black individuals produced by a leading company called Stable Diffusion. In this, it was concluded that:
“The world according to Stable Diffusion is run by White male CEOs. Women are rarely doctors, lawyers or judges. Men with dark skin commit crimes, while women with dark skin flip burgers,” Bloomberg authors Leonardo Nicoletti, and Dina Bass concluded.
As a result, this creates valid concern that services such as AI image generators are apt in perpetuating racial stereotypes, based on the lack of diversity in the AI job market. For instance, based on an Artificial Intelligence Diversity Index Report, in 2019 45% of AI PhD graduates were white, whereas 2.4% were African American. In addition, 22.4% were Asian and 3.2% were Hispanic.
According to the San Diego EDC “Inclusion is key” within the job market in order for AI to move equitably forward. Currently there is a widening talent gap in the region right now, with demand for AI talent more than doubling the regional supply.
“Even as San Diego’s existing AI-ML talent supply is more racially diverse than the national average, it still lags in comparison to the region’s population demographics. Making growing industries and high-wage roles accessible to San Diego’s Black and Hispanic talent—our region’s fastest growing populations—would help San Diego companies enjoy a talent surplus, strengthen our region’s competitiveness, and enhance our ability to drive life-changing innovation”
Furthermore, San Diego Assemblymember Akilah Weber also recently announced her intent to introduce legislation addressing the challenges of upcoming AI practices.
“Our job as a legislative body is to keep consumers safe by requiring appropriate guardrails, while simultaneously ensuring that innovation and growth are not stifled,” said Assemblymember Dr. Akilah Weber. “I look forward to the continued engagement with all stakeholders in the coming months.”
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