BOSTON (WWLP) – Regulations on technology are nothing new, but a bill on Beacon Hill sets out to protect against a new form of technology that is growing in popularity.

It may seem like something out of the future, but a bill has been filed to regulate certain kinds of artificial intelligence. The bill itself calls to attention ChatGPT, a generative artificial intelligence company that can do things like write a term paper, answer questions and pass exams. In fact, parts of the bill were even drafted with the help of ChatGPT.

The bill is hoping to provide protections that the federal government does not yet offer and keep emerging technologies like ChatGPT from being abused. There are concerns about plagiarism, racist point of views, and misinformation from being spread.

Senator Barry Finegold compared ChatGPT to Facebook and how 20 years ago the world didn’t know how that platform could be abused, which is why he is being proactive with ChatGPT, “Little did we know the power, the impact, how it would change elections and unfortunately somewhat for the negative, so the reason why we’re so involved with ChatGPT now, the reason why we filed legislation in fact, we have to put in guardrails in place so it’s not abused.”

This legislation would corner those concerns through a few angles. Generative AI bots would have to register with the Attorney General and disclose information about their algorithms, conduct regular risk assessments, prevent their models from being discriminatory, and obtain consent from users before processing their information.

They would also have to implement watermarks or offer an authentication process to keep plagiarism at bay. Senator Finegold said this is the first of its kind piece of legislation in the country.