Georgia
Georgia Senate committee to look at ways to regulate artificial intelligence technology
ATLANTA – A Georgia Senate study committee on Wednesday set a broad framework for determining how the state should regulate emerging artificial intelligence technology to protect the public without stifling innovation.
“(AI) will literally cure cancer,” Sen. John Albers, R-Roswell, the study committee’s chairman, said during the panel’s first meeting. “However, it also has the propensity to do great harm. … It’s going to impact and change things like never before.”
Several legislative committees held hearings on AI last year, and a bill was introduced in the Georgia House of Representatives during this year’s legislative session to criminalize the use of “deepfakes” generated by artificial intelligence to impersonate candidates in political ads. House Bill 986 overwhelmingly passed the House but died in the Senate.
On Wednesday, the new Senate study committee agreed on a broad range of policy areas AI will affect that need to be addressed in any legislation Georgia lawmakers come up with, including health care, public safety, education, and transportation.
Overlapping all of those categories is how to regulate AI in a way that ensures the technology is being used ethically and transparently. A House committee planning to begin meeting soon will also take up that issue, said Rep. Brad Thomas, R-Holly Springs, who was the chief sponsor of the deep-fakes bill.
Georgia could be among the first states to adopt regulations for AI. While the European Union’s Parliament adopted AI legislation last March, Colorado is the only U.S. state to have done so, Hayley Williams, director of the state Senate Office of Policy and Legislative Analysis, told the Senate panel.
Congress thus far hasn’t passed any AI regulations, she said.
“It’s a very complex universe to deal with and very difficult to regulate,” she said. “The reality is, the impact is too huge not to regulate.”
More: A ‘perfect tool’ to increase division: Augusta University professor talks TikTok ban
Williams said the EU’s Artificial Intelligence Act, which will take effect in 2026, regulates AI systems based on the risk they pose to the public. AI systems that pose an “unacceptable” risk are prohibited altogether, while systems considered to pose “minimal” risk are not regulated at all.
European companies that fail to comply face stiff fines, Williams said. Colorado’s law does not impose fines for non-compliance, she said.
Sen. Max Burns, R-Sylvania, said the study committee’s goal should be to foster innovation in the development of AI in Georgia with less emphasis on imposing restrictions like the EU model.
But Sen. Jason Esteves, D-Atlanta, said regulating AI systems to protect the public also must be an important goal.
“The primary function of government is to protect its citizens,” he said. “We should be ensuring we protect citizens from the potential impacts of AI.”
Albers said he plans to schedule seven or eight meetings of the study committee this summer and fall before the panel makes recommendations to the full Senate. The next meeting is set for July 17.
Georgia
Co-owner of Yurezz Home Center in Greeneville arrested in Georgia
APPLING COUNTY, Ga. (WCYB) — The co-owner of Yurezz Home Center in Greeneville has been arrested in Georgia, according to a report obtained by News 5.
Earlier this week, News 5 told you about the dealership in Greeneville that abruptly shut down last month.
This has left homeowners with partially built homes and employees without jobs.
It is not yet clear why Richard Altman was taken into custody.
This is a developing story.
Georgia
Georgia Supreme Court upholds convictions of men in deadly shooting during gas station carjacking
Two men found guilty of murdering a man while he was pumping air into his tires at a Georgia gas station will remain in prison, the Georgia Supreme Court has ruled.
Miles Chatezal Collins and Josiah Hughley, Jr. had appealed to the state’s highest court after they were found guilty of felony murder, aggravated assault, violating Georgia’s Street Gang, Terrorism and Prevention Act, and hijacking a motor vehicle, among other charges in 2025.
The men’s charges stem from a shooting on July 10, 2022, at a QuickTrip gas station in Peachtree Corners. According to the Gwinnett County District Attorney’s Office, 30-year-old Bradley Lamar Coleman had stopped at the gas station to fill up his tires when Collins, Hughley, and a third man pulled up beside him and tried to steal his Dodge Charger.
When Coleman tried to stop the men, officials say they shot him and fled the scene.
Authorities say the three men were members of the Blood gang and had tried to steal the car to increase their status.
While their first trial ended in a mistrial due to a comment by the prosecution, a jury found Collins, Hughley, and their co-defendant, David Jarrad Booker, guilty of more than a dozen charges in 2025. They were each sentenced to life plus 145 years in prison.
In Collins and Hughley’s appeal to the state Supreme Court, they argued that there was insufficient evidence to support some of the charges and that the judge in the case improperly admitted certain evidence and committed errors in instructing the jurors.
The justices’ rulings disagreed, finding that their attorneys failed to object to the supposed errors and that the two men’s claims were insufficient.
The judges also found that a claim by Hughley that his counsel failed him by not asserting that a statement made to law enforcement should have been suppressed. With those findings, the Supreme Court chose not to overrule the case, letting the convictions and sentences stand.
“We are grateful for this affirmation from the Georgia Supreme Court,” Gwinnett County District Attorney Patsy Austin-Gatson said. “Thanks to the incredible work of our team of trial and appellate prosecutors, and all of the staff that assisted with defending these convictions, two dangerous criminals will remain in prison.”
Booker’s appeal remains pending.
Georgia
Trooper injured in chain-reaction crash on Georgia 400
SANDY SPRINGS, Ga. – A Georgia State Patrol trooper sustained injuries Tuesday afternoon after striking the rear of a stopped vehicle on Georgia 400, triggering a three-vehicle chain-reaction crash.
What we know:
The collision happened around 3:43 p.m. on the northbound lanes just south of Abernathy Road.
A trooper was traveling north on Georgia 400 when traffic in front of the cruiser came to a sudden stop. The trooper was unable to halt in time and struck the rear of a second vehicle, which then slammed into a third vehicle.
All three vehicles sustained enough damage to be towed from the scene, according to the state patrol report. The trooper had visible injuries and received treatment onsite, while medics transported the second driver to a local hospital. The driver of the third car complained of injuries but refused medical treatment at the scene.
What we don’t know:
Officials have not yet confirmed the current medical conditions of the hospitalized driver or the injured trooper. It remains unclear what caused traffic to come to a sudden halt before the chain-reaction collision occurred.
The Source: The information in this story was gathered from Lt. E. Starling of the Georgia State Patrol DPS Public Information Office, who provided the preliminary crash details in an official statement.
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