AUSTIN (Nexstar) — The surge in artificial intelligence (AI) in the past year influenced the Texas Legislature to establish the Artificial Intelligence Advisory Council in the 88th regular session.
Set into motion through House Bill 2060, the council is tasked with studying and overseeing the use of AI by Texas state agencies. Its role includes suggesting administrative actions that can be implemented without additional legislative approval and providing recommendations for the 89th Texas Legislature in 2025.
Members of the council were supposed to be appointed by Oct. 1. However, these appointments have been delayed due to the third special session of the year according to State Rep. Giovanni Capriglione, R-Southlake, who authored HB 2060.
“I expect soon after this session is completed that we will have not only this council up and running, but we are continuing to do the work right now,” Capriglione said.
In the process of forming the council, Capriglione said he has been in various conversations on the topic of AI and how the committee will be structured for analyzing AI.
“We wanted to—at least for this council—look at it at a very high level: how does this affect individuals’ constitutional rights, how does it affect—again, at a higher level—the ethics and how to use this,” Capriglione said.
When asked about the rapid growth of AI and the pace of legislation to regulate it, Capriglione underscored the urgency of addressing this issue now, before AI becomes too powerful.
“I don’t think the legislature will ever fully catch up with where [AI] technology is,” Capriglione said. “We have to set some definitive guidelines on what is and isn’t acceptable use for artificial intelligence.”
The council is set to include:
An academic expert specializing in ethics (appointed by governor)
An academic expert specializing in AI systems (appointed by governor)
An expert in law enforcement usage of AI (appointed by the governor)
An expert in constitutional and legal rights (appointed by the governor)
The executive director of the Department of Information Resources, or their
designee
A member of the House of Representatives (appointed by the speaker)
A member of the Senate (appointed by the lieutenant governor)
“I’m just looking forward to working with as many stakeholders as possible with other legislators to come up with a good framework that makes Texas both a leader in artificial intelligence but also the number one state for protections from the negative consequences,” Capriglione said.
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