On August 5, 2024, the New York Attorney General (AG) published a report on artificial intelligence (AI) and generative AI, highlighting its potential risks and benefits, following a symposium organized by the AG that took place in April 2024.

AI's potential benefits and concerns

The report outlines AI's potential to improve different areas, as well as correlated concerns, including:

• healthcare: AI can alleviate physician burnout and allow for precision medicine, which involves the creation of personalized treatment plans based on information like genetic and clinical profiles. However, as health data is especially sensitive, the report notes the lack of transparency in what data is being collected or how it is being used by AI tools, as well as the potential for unequal access caused by minority groups being underrepresented in clinical data;
• spreading information online: as AI can help people easily find information, it can also facilitate the spread of misinformation;
• streamlining administrative tasks, particularly for government agencies: AI tools can be used to automatically identify people eligible for services or benefits, thus helping government agencies distribute those services and benefits to constituents more quickly and efficiently. However, this use may lead to algorithmic bias, especially given the black-box nature of AI algorithms; and
• infringement of copyright in training AI: as companies seek additional data for training, models are increasingly using their own outputs for training, called synthetic data.

Mitigation strategies

Additionally, the report identifies some possible mitigation measures to combat risks associated with AI, including:

• having a human actively involved in setting up, testing, and adjusting AI models;
• educating consumers on the functioning of AI;
• ensuring greater transparency in the use of AI, including how AI tools are audited;
• empowering consumers by establishing clear consumer rights; and
• greater oversight over AI technology, notably through regulation.

You can read the report here and the press release here.