Unanimous vote by Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors to approve AI

This article written by Christopher Neely, and reposted with permission by Lookout Santa Cruz

In a unanimous vote Tuesday, the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors approved a policy on artificial intelligence aimed at “harnessing the potential but also recognizing some of the risks, in particular on data privacy.” Big decisions will remain in human hands, a spokesperson said, but the county wanted a policy that could allow it to use AI as a tool while acknowledging its blind spots.

When Will Mayall received an invitation over the summer to work with Santa Cruz County on crafting an internal policy on artificial intelligence, the tech industry veteran felt a pang of skepticism.

“With this kind of technology, there has to be a realistic expectation of failure. In the tech world I come from, failure is an inherent part of the process, but that is, like, the complete opposite of government,” Mayall told Lookout on Tuesday. He said he felt the expectation laid upon government to get it right the first time and set firm policies was antithetical to the rapid and dynamic evolution of artificial intelligence.

But, at the urging of Doug Erickson, head of Santa Cruz Works and preeminent local tech scenester, Mayall agreed to help in an advisory role. By the end of his first meeting with county officials, his doubts had dissolved.