Montgomery County commissioners to adopt AI system code of ethics

Montgomery County commissioners voted unanimously to approve a resolution ordering the adoption of an artificial intelligence system code of ethics, during the April 23 court meeting.

What happened?

County IT Director Bobby Powell said the AI policy is required by the state of Texas, along with the appointment of an AI risk management official. Powell said currently, he’s the only person within the department who can handle the task.

Powell said the approved resolution enacts the minimum standards required by the Texas Department of Information Resources.

“There will be living documents tied to the back end of this that we will bring back to the court here in a few weeks,” Powell said. "We've got them prepared that have some specifics in them about what we as a county are doing, instead of just the DIR framework that they're requiring us to enact.”

Powell also said that anyone who does any type of AI business with the county and any company that provides data built on AI must enact the same provisions within their companies and comply with state guidelines and standards.

Another detail

High risks with AI are defined as anytime AI uses the county’s data. Though Powell said he’s unsure of the cost, the resolution is an unfunded mandate and will require a full-time position once the policy is implemented. First Assistant County Attorney Amy Davidson said that the county is trying to get ahead of the challenges with AI.

“It's widespread. We have an employee issue, we have a training issue, we have a software issue, we have an IT issue, ... at the same time on [top of] that, ... we do have requirements with the state that we have to comply with,” Davidson said.

What’s next?

The county has seen large increases in hardware costs because of AI, Powell said. Hardware cost increases range from 40%-60%, and in some cases, over 1000% above last year's market level for specific items.

“There will be an AI policy produced by the county attorneys [that] enacts all the changes and restrictions that we have to follow through,” Powell said.

He said that he and his department will work to only allow AI to occur when it’s safe.