Lander County adopts an AI acceptable‑use policy; DA cautions about legal risks

Lander County adopted an Artificial Intelligence Acceptable Use Policy at the meeting after a discussion about safeguards and practical implementation. The policy requires employees to obtain written pre‑approval from their supervisor or department head before using AI to generate public work products, restricts certain types of confidential data from open‑source AI tools and sets reporting procedures for potential violations. Commissioners asked for a practical approach that would give department heads discretion to specify types of permissible AI use and to avoid overburdening employees with needless paperwork for routine edits.

Mike McDonald (speaker 16, Chief Deputy DA) urged caution, explaining that courts and lawyers have disciplined reliance on AI where outputs contained fabricated citations and false authorities: “the darn things will cite completely made up cases, completely made up courts… they come up with stuff that just does not exist,” he warned, and recommended that approval be project‑specific and that records‑retention rules preserve AI prompts and provenance where used. The board approved the policy with small edits clarifying reporting channels (immediate supervisor, manager or human resources) and using “may” for disciplinary language to allow appropriate supervisory discretion.