The Georgia Senate Artificial Intelligence Study Committee is set to meet Wednesday at Georgia Tech to explore the extent Georgia lawmakers should promote policies to attract AI business and research and how much they should focus on preventing pitfalls like loss of jobs or privacy.

“One of the things we heard a lot at least early on was about how the EU is taking a very maybe regulatory approach toward AI,” said Sen. Max Burns, a Sylvania Republican, speaking at the inaugural AI Committee hearing last month. “And our goal, I hope, would be to support AI and support the innovation and the expansion of AI, appropriately, so that it’s good for Georgia, it’s good for Georgians, it’s good for our nation, and I think we can do that, but we don’t need to take maybe the approach that says restrictions as opposed to, as you point out, maybe innovation.”

“I would offer a friendly addition to that as we’re looking through these priorities,” Atlanta Democratic Sen. Jason Esteves said.

“In my opinion, the primary function of government, one of them, is to protect its citizens, make sure its citizens are protected,” he added. “And you mentioned, Mr. Chairman, that AI, the comparison to a wheel, it’s transformational. It will change the trajectory of human history. And with that, we should be ensuring that in addition to supporting AI, we are protecting citizens from potential impacts of AI, and that should be a priority – the priority for us.”

Committee Chairman Sen. John Albers, a Roswell Republican, said the responsibility for striking that balance will likely fall on the state government.

“A lot of times, legislation tends to be adopted on the state level. There’s a blessing and a curse there,” he said. “The good news is sometimes we can make things more Georgia-specific, where we like to find a unique balance. The bad news is sometimes you get 50 versions of something, which is not necessarily good for consumers or businesses.”

The committee, which includes four Republicans and two Democrats, will work on modeling AI legislation across realms including health care, education, infrastructure, business and labor in as many as twelve total meetings to be held around the state before the 2025 legislative session is set to begin in January.

Albers, who also chairs the Senate Public Safety Committee, said finding ways to use AI to help police and first responders will be one of the committee’s priorities. AI technology can help 911 dispatchers send help more quickly and assist police in solving cybercrime, but it can also open up new ways to break the law.

“Going after the criminal street gangs, counter-terrorism organizations, et cetera, using AI is significant, but it’s also a little scary, because you have to make sure what’s done for good is not also being used for bad or for evil,” Albers said.

Proposed AI legislation has elicited free speech concerns. This year, a bill backed by House Republican leadership aimed at regulating campaigns’ use of AI-generated deep fakes of opponents ahead of an election passed the House but stalled in the Senate. Similar legislation is likely to come back next year, and lawmakers have also discussed penalizing people who use AI to create obscene images of minors.

The hearing is set for 10 a.m., is open to the public and will be streamed live on the Georgia General Assembly website.

COLUMBUS, Ga. (WRBL) — In the wake of the assassination attempt on former President Trump’s life, security is a front and center topic for those attending the Republican National Convention.

Long time Republican Party activist and Columbus resident, Alton Russell, is one of the 59 official delegates from Georgia who attended the convention. He has been to five conventions as a delegate or alternate expected security to be tight.

“They’re saying that they’ve not increased any security. But it’s obvious that they have.  We had a just a little party last night — a welcome to Milwaukee — and they had seven or eight, you know things that you walk through to check your bags,” says Russell. “Security is a little bit tougher than than I think they than they had planned. We’ve got a security guy, a Secret Service guy on the bus with us as we go from one place to another.”

In addition to heightened security at the convention, the assassination attempt has drawn universal condemnation of political violence.

Sen. Ed Harbison, a Vietnam Veteran who remembers the assassinations and political unrest of the 1960s agrees with those condemnations. Harbison said the attempt on the former president’s life brought back painful memories.

“It is something that should be universally condemned. It is just reprehensible. And we should be reminded of what America is all about. People have a right to free speech and that kind of thing, but there is a line. And what happened there is just— I can’t say anything but reprehensible and should never be repeated. And we should all be  standing guard against that kind of action anywhere at any time and condemn it for what it is, an assassin. It’s just something about that word just brings up, conjures up thoughts of evil doings and that kind of thing.”

Senator Ed Harbison, D-Columbus

The wake of Saturday’s events there has been call for everyone to tamp down the rhetoric in a contentious political season. Russell hopes people will take a step back and try to turn down the heat.

“Hopefully to tone down the rhetoric and somebody or whoever it is or quit saying that Trump is our next Hitler and he’s going to destroy civilization and he’s going to destroy democracy.  You know, I think they need to tone that down. And I think I think Trump is saying is that he’s rewriting his Thursday night speech to start to move more towards unity. So I hope that’s what he’s going to do. And I expect that he will.”

Alton Russell, Georgia Delegate to the RNC

The RNC has just begun, with the Georgia delegation hearing from Faith and Freedom Coalition founder Ralph Reed this morning. Tomorrow morning, they are expecting to hear from Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp.

DALLAS—Hanging on light posts near the Omni Dallas hotel where SEC Media Days opened Monday are two banners.

The quite familiar “It Just Means More,” and a sign of the times: “Now 16 Strong.”

Ushering in Texas and Oklahoma is a focal point of the four days of football chatter with more than 1,200 media members.

The Sooners hit the stage Tuesday and Longhorns on Wednesday.

Their additions meant the end of divisions and some familiar annual matchups taking a pause.

Like Georgia-South Carolina.

The teams won’t play this season or next—barring an SEC championship or playoff matchup—for the first time since 1992. That’s when the Gamecocks joined the SEC.

Not playing the beast that is Georgia could be looked at as a welcome break.

That’s not what the Gamecocks said.

“I always looked forward to playing Georgia every year,” said redshirt senior Luke Doty, who has played in four games against the Bulldogs including throwing for 190 yards in his first career start at quarterback against Georgia in 2020 and starting last season at wide receiver in the game. “It’s definitely going to be weird not playing them, Tennessee or Florida this year just because we’ve played them for so long.”

The Gamecocks led Georgia 14-3 at halftime in a week 3 game last season, but lost 24-14, their eighth defeat in the series in the last nine games.

South Carolina delivered Georgia their last home loss in the 2019 season.

Alex Huntley was there on a recruiting visit to Georgia. He’s now a fifth-year Gamecocks defensive tackle and would prefer to get a shot at what could be the preseason No. 1 ranked Bulldogs.

“I actually wasn’t a fan of it,” Huntley said. “I looked forward to playing Georgia. …I was there when South Carolina beat Georgia. I was at that game. So I kind of wanted that opportunity as well. Last year we had that opportunity. We came up short. I kind of wanted another shot.”

Georgia also won’t play Missouri or Vanderbilt the next two regular seasons. The Tigers are a tougher test now entering their fifth season under Eli Drinkwitz whose team went 11-2 and won the Cotton Bowl last season.

Georgia won its 10^th straight against Missouri last season, but the teams were tied at 10 in their Nov. 4 game in Athens before the Bulldogs pulled out a 30-21 win after Nazir Stackhouse’s interception return set up a fourth-quarter field goal.

In Shane Beamer’s fourth season as South Carolina coach, the Gamecocks also avoid Texas, but play at Alabama and Ole Miss in back-to-back weeks in October.

“You want to compete against the best, you want to coach against the best,” Beamer said. “We ain’t far off. We’ve had some fantastic wins over the last three seasons…There’s teams to be considered to be in the mix for that playoff that we have beaten.”

South Carolina went 5-7 last season and the Gamecocks aren’t expected to rise this season.

“I really like our football team, most of you don’t,” Beamer said.

He said he expects his team t be picked 13^th or 14^th.

The Gamecocks were picked 13^th in the USA Today Sports predicted order of finish ahead of only Arkansas, Mississippi State and Vanderbilt.

Georgia was picked first, getting all but one vote to win the SEC title. The other went to Texas.

South Carolina lost quarterback Spencer Rattler. Redshirt freshman LaNorris Sellers is in line to replace him.

“We’re young, we’re talented as an offense, but the question is how fast we can come together?” Beamer said.

Huntley is certainly confident.

Here’s what he said of not playing Georgia.

“We don’t see them on the regular schedule,” Huntley said. “I’m sure we’ll see them in the playoffs though or have that opportunity.”