SALT LAKE CITY — Governor Spencer Cox announced a "pro-human AI initiative" in Utah, setting up the potential for more guardrails around the use of artificial intelligence in the state.
"What we want is that every decision that we make related to AI, wherever it exists, is it serving humankind? Is it promoting human flourishing? Or is it making us dumber or worse? I think if we look at things through that lens, we’ll end up in a much better place," the governor said in remarks at the first-ever Utah AI Summit at the Salt Palace on Tuesday.
The event, which brought together government officials, tech and AI executives and even some critics of artificial intelligence, launched with the governor offering another scathing critique of social media companies and the alleged harms they have caused to Utah's youth and warning AI companies not to go down the same path (the state is currently suing several social media companies).
"However much you hate social media, you don’t hate it enough," Gov. Cox told the crowd. "You don’t hate these companies enough. They gave your daughter an eating disorder and your son a pornography addiction."
Gov. Cox said his AI initiative would focus on workforce, industry, state government use, academia, public policy and learning. For example, state employees can get access and training — with safeguards in place. The governor also announced $10 million in funding to ensure Utah's workforce is "AI ready."
"AI must always be human-guided," the governor declared.
In an interview with FOX 13 News on Tuesday, Utah Department of Commerce Executive Director Margaret Woolley Busse said the goal is to ensure AI doesn't replace jobs without alternatives or it doesn't become a crutch in education.
It could also mean additional regulation of AI beyond what the Utah legislature has already done.
"If we see areas where it’s not pro-human, where it’s manipulating us? Where it’s harming us? That’s an area we may regulate," Busse said.
Scott Pulsipher, the president of the online Western Governors University, shared those concerns. He said AI is used in classrooms at WGU but there are rules in place for students and faculty.
"You have to make sure you’re not leveraging AI to make decisions for you," he told FOX 13 News.
Utah has allowed tech companies to innovate using artificial intelligence, offering to have many operate in a "sandbox" environment through the state's Office of AI Policy. But the legislature has also passed bills to restrict AI to create deepfakes and demand that medical chatbots disclose that someone is actually talking to a machine and not a human.
Caleb Hicks, the founder and CEO of SchoolAI, said he appreciated the state's views on artificial intelligence.
"We need to commend Utah for leading out on AI in many sectors," Hicks told FOX 13 News. "For me especially, I think about education and how we use AI in our schools. There’s big opportunities to do it right if we do it together."
One prominent critic of AI expressed support for Utah's efforts to put guardrails in place around artificial intelligence. Appearing at the summit, actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt told the crowd he would like to see more done to ensure children are protected.
"I actually remain an optimist through all my concerns and I'm excited about what the technology could potentially do for me, my generation and for my kids’ generation," he said of AI. "But I am worried that if we go down the path of least resistance and we allow this technology to unfold, driven purely by profit incentives without any other guardrails? I’m worried it could do more harm than good, particularly to kids."
Busse told FOX 13 News legislation is pending that would regulate AI "companions" and demand that AI-generated video have the metadata included so consumers know it is created and not real. There may be other bills on AI that also appear in next month's legislative session.
"AI can be a very powerful, beneficial tool. It can make things more efficient, more effective, streamline things. But at the end of the day, if it’s not supporting the human experience? That’s problematic," Senate Majority Leader Kirk Cullimore, R-Sandy, told FOX 13 News.
Utah's mix of innovation and regulation stands in contrast to federal positions where President Trump and some members of Congress have backed a ban on state regulations. Gov. Cox signaled a willingness to fight.
"Congress should be doing this, setting those guardrails," the governor said. "But if it is not going to function, then the states must act and we must have the ability to do that and we will fight for the ability to do that."
