By JEANETTE WOLFBERG
HUDSON–On March 12, the Columbia County Board of Supervisors adopted a policy for utilizing Artificial Intelligence (AI) while conducting business on the county’s behalf. This policy prioritizes human judgment over AI and constrains AI users to stay within honesty, ethical, privacy, confidentiality, and data-protection standards. Some county work already includes AI.
The policy allows a person to use AI for county business as a tool “to enhance efficiency and productivity.” However, it requires human oversight at every stage and “may be subject to monitoring.” Users may neither let AI “replace human judgment in critical decision-making,” nor “rely solely on AI for decision-making in areas requiring professional expertise, regulatory compliance, or ethical considerations.” Before AI-generated content is used “in official communication or decision-making,” a human must “review and validate” it. Before any new AI tool or application is implemented, the IT Department must review and approve it.
The policy explicitly forbids users from “using AI to generate or disseminate false, misleading, or harmful information.” It forbids inputting or processing confidential, private, or “personally identifiable” information, without prior authorization.
Employees are to receive periodic training about AI. The policy encourages users to provide feedback and identify concerns, while requiring them to report any AI-related violations of standards they notice to the IT Department immediately.
Meanwhile, the AI policy states it “will be reviewed periodically to ensure alignment with evolving AI technologies.”
One area where the county already uses AI is the on-line search procedure for the Columbia and Greene County Behavioral Health Services Resource Guide. The most recent update includes an AI Workflow Chatbox, to “streamline” finding those resources relevant to what one needs, among the guide’s numerous entries, explained John Cahill, Dual Recovery Coordinator for the Department of Human Services (DHS), on February 28. The entries range from addiction services to food pantries. Mr. Cahill, who led the update, estimated that the whole guide, if printed out, would be about 150 pages. At the Health and Human Services Committee meeting March 18, DHS Director Dan Almasi called for feedback from guide search users “in case AI goes rogue, like us humans.”
