San Diego County seeks new policy to govern use of AI

With artificial intelligence already affecting nearly every aspect of people’s lives, San Diego County supervisors want a formal policy that spells out how staff will use—or avoid—the technology.

The Board of Supervisors directed top county officials to study what policy changes should be enacted to contend with AI as the machine-learning technology pushes further into everyday life.

The county will start with general guidelines put forward by a subcommittee chaired by Supervisor Joel Anderson over the past six months, and it will develop a framework governing how AI will be employed across every aspect of county operations.

Among other things, the new framework will spell out how the county will deploy AI and, more specifically, how employees and constituents can be protected in terms of personal data, direct services and labor agreements.

“AI technologies must be leveraged strategically to improve service delivery without compromising equity, privacy or public trust,” Anderson told his board colleagues in a report before the vote to move forward with the study.

“By implementing a governance framework, establishing an AI incident-response plan, enhancing vendor accountability and expanding workforce-education efforts, the county will ensure responsible AI adoption that aligns with its strategic priorities,” he added. “These measures will enable the county to remain at the forefront of technological advancements while safeguarding the best interests of employees, residents and businesses.”

The idea was approved on a 3-0 vote, with Supervisor Jim Desmond absent from the meeting.

Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer sought and won approval for the framework to meet specific criteria asserted in the Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights adopted by the Biden administration in October 2022.

She also asked that the framework be brought back to the board for follow-up consideration before any document is formally put into place.

“I truly believe AI holds an extraordinary amount of promise,” Lawson-Remer said before casting her vote supporting the measure. “But we also know these powerful tools do carry risks as well, with inaccurate or biased outputs that have led to civil rights being violated.”

Supervisor Monica Montgomery Steppe said she wanted to make sure the framework was developed in a manner that included any concerns from people with disabilities so that blind, deaf and other constituents were protected.

“There are different innovations for that community in particular, so I just wanted to make sure we are including them in this process,” she said.

Artificial intelligence is already disrupting numerous sectors across society.

Generative AI platforms like ChatGPT, Google Gemini and Microsoft Copilot, among many others, scour reams of information published online dating back years to create text and other materials in mere seconds.

Futurists and others believe AI will disrupt virtually every sector of society in ways even greater than the introduction of the internet and personal computers in the 1990s. But some experts have warned of potential dangers unless the products are safely regulated and controlled.

Several speakers urged county supervisors to be careful to protect employees and the public with whatever policy or framework they adopt.

“The use of AI has promise and peril for our workforce and the services we provide,” said David Lagstein, the political director of the Service Employees International Union Local 221, which represents thousands of county employees.

“We need a policy that will do no harm, and this needs to be developed thoughtfully,” he said.

County staff were directed to complete the pending analysis in time for supervisors to consider adding new requirements to the $1 billion information-technology contract that is coming up for renewal later this year.

Anderson, who made it clear that he is unhappy with the current level of service provided by the existing contractor, said it is vital that the county take advantage of rapidly improving technology in the county’s next IT contract.

“It’s really going to give people more opportunity than they have ever had to participate in government,” he said. “It’s $1 billion, and it’s our future for the next decade—so we have got to get it right.”

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