SARASOTA, Fla. - Governor Ron DeSantis spoke about the importance of limiting artificial intelligence during a roundtable at New College of Florida on Wednesday morning.
What we know:
DeSantis brought up the problem of expanding data centers, and how community members are now realizing how much power these centers use.
The governor says these data centers — if implemented — would take jobs away, as data centers take very little labor to operate. He says as demand grows for AI, power will cost more as data centers must produce more.
DeSantis is also hoping the Artificial Intelligence Bill of Rights will continue through congress to be approved for child safety.
RELATED: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis proposes 'Artificial Intelligence Bill of Rights'
Why you should care:
Janet Kelly was at the roundtable representing Megan Garcia, who lost her son, Sewell, to suicide in 2023. Kelly reminded members that Garcia’s son lost his life after talking to an online character on the Character.ai app for several hours each day.
Garcia said previously that the AI chatbot groomed her son through romantic and explicit messages and ultimately encouraged suicidal ideas. Kelly stated that artificial intelligence companies must go under the same scrutiny as any other child product.
"If you’re going to make products for kids, they need to have protections for kids," Kelly said. "If not, they’re recalled."
Kelly emphasized the need to amend old bills that don’t include the need to limit artificial intelligence.
"We cannot trade the American dream for an artificial one," Kelly said.
READ MORE: Parents testify before Congress about the danger of artificial intelligence
What's next:
Attorney and author, Mike McClellan, says he's worked with several other authors whose works have been stolen and used to train A.I. bots. He says their books and articles were taken without permission to create imitation content.
"If we’re going to have reasonable policy on A.I., we need to stop lying," McClellan said.
He emphasized the need for transparency in the building of A.I. companies and the usage of these intelligence types.
Click here for a full overview of the A.I. Bill of Rights proposal.
The Source: This article was written with information from the roundtable with Governor DeSantis at New College of Florida.