Why Connecticut has been slow to adopt AI regulations

CT Insider – Monday, April 7, 2025
By Ken Dixon

HARTFORD — As artificial intelligence becomes more prevalent in the daily lives of Connecticut residents, regulating the nascent technology remains a push-and-pull between state lawmakers and the Lamont administration.

State Sen. James Maroney, D-Milford and the new legislative Artificial Intelligence Caucus are pushing for a variation of a bill that failed last year amid opposition from Gov. Ned Lamont and Dan O’Keefe, the commissioner of the state Department of Economic and Community Development.

While lawmakers on both sides of the aisle agree that issues such as deep-fake porn and the potential for AI algorithms to improperly discriminate against people applying for jobs, loans and educational opportunities should be addressed, O’Keefe warns that the state should not stifle the industry or discourage companies from locating here. He stresses the need for a a multi-state, regional approach to new laws.

So with the June 4 legislative adjournment now less than two months away, the main issues are nearly identical to last year’s that failed at around the time Colorado became the first state to try to regulate the industry.

During a recent news conference with members of the AI Caucus, state Rep. Hubert Delany- D-Stamford, called the current Senate Bill 2, “a thoughtful, common-sense and forward-looking” framework.

“This is about ensuring that the tools we create serve us, that technology is used to enhance our lives and to ensure that technology is not being used to erode the public trust that my colleagues and I are sworn to protect,” Delaney said. “When powerful systems like these get it wrong, peoples’ lives are on the line. When these systems operate without transparency or accountability, it’s both unethical and potentially dangerous. If AI is being used to make decisions about someone’s life, then human decision making and human accountability must not be abandoned.”

“The reality is that our economy, our culture and our lives are changing drastically because of the rise of these AI systems,” said state Sen. Jorge Cabrera, D-Hamden. The growing use of AI was brought home to Cabrera recently when his son had a job interview, at home through an artificial intelligence program. “These systems, as they become more and more pervasive in our society, need to have guardrails. We need to make sure we have some safeguards to make sure people are not discriminated against.”

“We don’t believe that guardrails and innovation are at odds,” said Maroney, a member of the General Assembly since 2013, who has become a nationally known advocate for AI regulation and public training. “In fact, we believe that good guardrails, good regulations, help to promote innovation and we can make Connecticut a leader in responsible AI innovation. This is something we’re all going to do together, to work and make sure that Connecticut is a leader in responsible AI innovation; that we’re putting the people of Connecticut first and over the profits of a few large businesses; that we’re making sure that we can all benefit.”

Maroney stresses the need to protect citizens with transparency, accuracy and accountability, allowing people to see if AI is involved in their job searches, housing applications and other major life issues. He said that up to 70 percent of large landlords use AI to screen potential tenants, with the possibility that there are built-in biases against racial and age groups.

The General Law Committee, which Maroney co-chairs, recently approved both his bill and the governor’s proposal, which O’Keefe prefers.

State Rep. David Rutigliano of Trumbull, a ranking Republican on the General Law Committee, said Friday that Maroney’s bill is a “work in progress” that’s due to change further.

“There is broad agreement on certain parts like revenge porn,” Rutigliano said. Another section, which would require companies to provide testing functions to explore potential AI biases, is more complicated, he said. “It’s a balance between between economic development and the need to protect people. We get stuck with terms like ‘consequential decisions.’ We’re right in the infancy and people are asking why make Connecticut an outlier when we’re trying to make places like New Haven medical and tech hubs.”

The committee bill includes provisions to prevent discrimination; to develop a state technology strategy including the use of AI in teacher development and training for state employees. It would also increase penalties for so-call deep-fake porn and other intimate images.

The governor’s bill would promote plans to to eventually require companies to test their algorithms for bias.

O’Keefe argues that there are existing state protections against bias and that the governor’s proposal, which, like the committee bill, next heads to the Senate floor, would amend the state’s consumer statutes to explicitly say that using AI is not a defense against any legal claims of discrimination.

“Introducing a novel, untested regulatory framework creates ambiguity in our statutes and courtrooms, and may inadvertently create opportunities for discriminatory activity that is already illegal to evade best efforts at enforcement,” O’Keefe said in testimony to the General Law Committee. “Compliance with the new regulations proposed by this bill would cost innovative companies substantial amounts of time and money, and would constitute an especially prohibitive barrier for those considering establishing operations Connecticut. Lastly, we should avoid a state-by-state approach to regulation given our state’s economy is deeply integrated with those of our neighbors and the global economy.”

In a phone interview on Friday, O’Keefe said that AI is another foundational innovation, like the printing press nearly 600 years ago or the steam locomotive in 1787 that can result in some kind of economic dislocation requiring workforce preparation while representing a large economic opportunity.

“It’s irrational to be the first state in the region,” O’Keefe said, noting that Connecticut has less than one percent of the nation’s population.

“We’re always competing with our neighbors for workers and businesses.” He said that while he and AI advocates in the legislature are on opposite sides of the debate, including what he says in the broad regulatory language of Maroney’s bill, they have common interests such as discouraging fake porn. “We’re always talking,” O’Keefe said of his interactions with Maroney.

Rob Blanchard, communications director for Lamont, agreed on Friday. “We continue to meet with and hear from industry leaders, local developers, and legislators on the best legislative path forward that addresses regulation without stifling our state’s ability to innovate,” he said.

Maroney said that the bill will go to the Judiciary Committee, then the Appropiations Committee and he’s planning for a mid-May debate in the Senate. “We’re continuing to meet with the industry, the House leaders and the governor,” Maroney said in a Friday interview. “I’m also working with legislators in Rhode Island and New York, where they are running the exact same bill.”

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