While most states are considering various ways to regulate the use of artificial intelligence, at least one Idaho lawmaker is taking a unique approach and seeking to prohibit regulation.

SB 1067 would prohibit any governmental entity from enacting or enforcing laws or ordinances that have the “express or practical effect of constraining the development, training, or use of” AI. This includes but is not limited to: a) regulating research and development; (b) deployment in commercial applications; and (c) consumer use of AI technologies. The bill further prohibits governmental entities from regulating “the operation of an AI system's underlying algorithms or decision making processes.”

The bill defines “governmental entity” as the state and any political subdivision.

Artificial intelligence is defined broadly as “a form of algorithmic computation that is an engineered or machine-based system that varies in its level of autonomy and can, in response to explicit or implicit objectives, infer or otherwise algorithmically determine from the input it receives how to generate outputs that can influence physical or virtual environments.”

The bill was introduced in the Idaho Senate on February 7 and referred to the Commerce and Human Resources Committee.