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Mariposa County adopts initial AI policy to set ethical guardrails for staff use
Summary
The Board approved an administrative policy that guides county employees on acceptable uses of artificial intelligence, requires IT and counsel consultation for some uses, and establishes an annual review process as AI tools evolve.
The Mariposa County Board of Supervisors on Oct. 7 adopted an artificial intelligence policy intended to provide baseline rules for county staff who use AI tools in their jobs.
The policy covers generative AI and related tools, requires staff to consult information technology and county counsel for certain uses, and places responsibility on employees to review and validate AI outputs before relying on them. The policy also directs the county’s IT manager to review the policy annually.
Robert (Robbie) Sharp, administrative analyst in administration, said staff built the policy with input from IT, county counsel and labor representatives and described it as "starter guardrails" rather than an exhaustive technical standard. County Administrative Officer Joe Lynch said the policy is aimed at ethical, transparent use and is not intended to replace employees: "No — and that's not the intention of it. It's used to augment the work that's being done and not recreate."
Public commenters urged a narrower definition of AI in the policy so that machine‑learning tools used for GIS, forecasting or other embedded analytics are not overbroadly covered, and recommended a county-maintained list of pre‑cleared tools. Ethan Smith, a GIS specialist, recommended limiting the operative definition to generative AI and large language models, which are the new, widely available tools that raise the most risk.
Board members and staff discussed adding a public‑facing notice and using peer resources such as the National Association of Counties technology exchange to track best practices. The board asked staff to remain nimble and update the policy as needed; staff said they would seek latitude to make non‑substantive/clerical edits without returning to the board for every technical update.
Supervisor Toso moved to adopt the policy; the motion passed 5‑0.
The policy instructs staff to follow any more‑stringent state or federal laws that emerge and to incorporate contractual requirements into vendor agreements where county services rely on third parties.
