The Washington state Legislature, which has proposed legislation in the past to tackle issues such as data privacy and the use of facial recognition tech, is now reviewing a bill that would regulate the use of "automated decision systems" and AI technology within state government. According to the bill, these systems use algorithms to analyze data to help make or support decisions that could result in discrimination against different groups or make decisions that could negatively impact constitutional or legal rights. As a result, Senate Bill 5116 aims to regulate these systems to prevent discrimination and ban government agencies from using AI tech to profile individuals in public areas. Sen. Bob Hasegawa, one of the bill's sponsors, said in an email, "I introduced this bill after reading disturbing reports about the disproportionate impact that AI technology has on communities of color." "This technology is changing how we live our day to day lives, and it's important that we make sure it's not further deepening the inequities and discrimination in our society before we create a reliance on it," he said.