PHOENIX – A Republican member of the Arizona House used ChatGPT to help draft the AI-based impersonation legislation signed into law by Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs earlier this week.
State Rep. Alex Kolodin used artificial intelligence software to define “digital imitation” in Arizona’s new law aimed at regulating deep counterfeiting technology. House Bill 2394The legislation Hobbs signed into law Tuesday gives Arizona politicians and other residents the ability to obtain a court order declaring that the person in the deepfake is not them.
It follows a wider national debate about digital imitations. Monday, actor Scarlett Johansson said this from the artificial intelligence company OpenAI used a voice “eerily similar” to hers for a new chatbot, despite the company declining its request to provide her voice. OpenAI announced she will stop using the voice, claiming she was “never meant to sound like Johansson”.
In the meantime, Ahead of the 2024 elections, more states are introducing and passing laws to combat deep-pocketed fraud.amid widespread concern about the impact of AI-driven disinformation.
“I used it to write the part of the bill that defines what deep fraud is,” Kolodin said of his use of the software in the legislative process.
“I was really struggling with the technical aspects of defining what deep forgery was. So I thought to myself, ‘Well, why not ask the subject matter expert ChatGPT?”’ Kolodin said.
The lawmaker from Maricopa County said he “downloaded a bill that I was working on and said, you know, please put a subsection with that definition, and he spat out a subsection of that definition.”
“There is also a strong legislative process,” Kolodin continued. “If ChatGPT had covered up some of the language or done something that would have been harmful, I would have seen it, one of the 10 stakeholder groups working on or looking at this bill, the ACLU, the broadcasters union, would have seen it. If they saw it, it would be brought up in committee testimony.”
But Kolodin said this part of the bill is better than other parts written by people. “In fact, the part of the bill that ChatGPT wrote was probably one of the least amended parts,” he said.
He argues that any drawbacks to using ChatGPT to write a piece of the law will also exist if humans take over the reins. Kolodin said he “sees no pitfalls that I don’t see in relying on legislative advocates to draft legislation.”
Kolodin noted that he used ChatGPT sparingly in the process, using it for a technical definition of “digital impersonation” based on his experience as a lawyer and politician, as well as the legislative process.
A representative for the governor’s office confirmed that Hobbs was unaware that Collodi had used ChatGPT to draft the bill he signed into law. It was a mistake that Kolodi admitted.
“I wanted it to be a surprise after the bill was signed,” he said.