Should companion chatbots face greater regulation?

This week’s Priorities Podcast is joined by Center for Humane Technology’s Pete Furlong and Transparency Coalition.ai’s Rob Eleveld. They discuss the risks that artificial-intelligence-powered “companion” chatbots pose to the public, particularly children. Furlong and Eleveld explain why companion chatbots are becoming a bigger threat and what policymakers, parents and the tech industry ought to do about it.

This week’s top stories:

Through direct sales and a constellation of resellers, the U.S. government is increasingly using Starlink. Officials and analysts interviewed by FedScoop and EdScoop said the company is proving difficult to work with and potentially problematic for the public sector.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Tuesday announced her state will soon begin holding its water and wastewater utilities to a more thorough set of cybersecurity standards. They’ll also have access to a new $2.5 million grant program to help cover the cost of meeting the new regulations, which are likely to be phased in within the next several months.

San Jose city officials recently celebrated the graduation of the latest cohort of public employees from its AI Upskilling Program, a 10-week training course designed to help staff use artificial intelligence responsibly and effectively deliver services.

New episodes of StateScoop’s Priorities Podcast are posted each Wednesday.

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