Connecticut lawmakers weigh broad AI bill as agencies, businesses and labor press competing priorities

Lawmakers and witnesses at the General Law Committee public hearing debated a comprehensive artificial intelligence proposal — Senate Bill 2 — that pairs state-funded job training and innovation programs with new regulatory requirements for AI systems. The proposal drew support for its workforce and sandbox provisions and sharp concern about regulatory burdens on developers and deployers.

Advocates and agency officials praised the bill's economic-development components and efforts to build a local AI workforce. "AI represents a new wave of innovation that has the potential to dramatically increase human productivity and accelerate economic growth," Commissioner Dan O'Keefe of the Department of Economic and Community Development told the committee, urging that Connecticut pair investments with safeguards rather than a patchwork of state…