About four months after its creation by the Utah Legislature, the Utah Office of Artificial Intelligence Policy (OAIP) at the Utah Department of Commerce has opened. According to the lawmakers’ mandate, the new division will explore the most effective methods of AI regulation and guide development of responsible policies.
Directed by Zach Boyd, a former applied mathematics professor at Brigham Young University, the new office is committed to creating a regulatory framework for AI that balances the need to protect the public from potential harm while encouraging innovation, officials said at a launch event held at Kiln, a coworking space in downtown Salt Lake City.
Additional OAIP office employees include Alice Schwarze, serving as an AI research fellow, Brady Young will be the lead AI legal analyst and Greg Whisenant serving as an AI policy advisor.
At the opening event, it was also announced the OAIP will also utilize a Learning Lab in order to engage with tech companies, stakeholders and experts to evaluate policy ideas and make recommendations to the Utah State Legislature. According to Gov. Spencer Cox, who spoke at the launch party, this will enable tech companies to give input on regulations that may have become outdated during the AI boom.
“When I joined the Legislature and then became lieutenant governor, we ran into some instances where we had new tech companies coming into the state, or starting here in the state, running up against regulation that was sometimes 40 or 50 years old and not sure how to deal with that,” Cox said. “And we have a Legislature that only meets once a year for 45 days.”
“I think we’ve been able to punch above our weight as a state filling this office, because there is a credible belief that we can actually get things done, and that we’re going to move fast and be first movers in this space,” Boyd told event attendees.
According to Govtech.com, a watchdog website concerned with government technology, “there has been a lot of debate about the best path forward on AI regulation, and while an executive order from the federal government has helped spur action, many states have established their own safeguards for constituents. States and localities are increasingly exploring sandbox environments to examine the potential impacts of AI, such as Georgia’s innovation lab and the New York City Public Schools Artificial Intelligence Policy Lab.
“Utah has been early to act, establishing a Center of Excellence in AI in 2018 and setting a policy on generative AI in late 2023. Now, the OAIP will facilitate study of AI-related issues, and how the state can most effectively regulate the technologies to mitigate risks. Passage of state Senate Bill 149, which Gov. Spencer Cox signed in March, formally established the office.”
The Learning Lab’s first subject area will be the use of AI in healthcare — with a specific focus on mental health. The state is calling on businesses, academic institutions and other stakeholders with subject matter expertise to apply to participate through the lab’s website at https://ai.utah.gov/learning-lab/.