Wake County official joins national exploratory committee for Artificial Intelligence Technology
Wake County official joins national exploratory committee for Artificial Intelligence Technology
RALEIGH, N.C., (WNCN) — There’s no doubt, artificial intelligence technology is taking off.
“I think it’s just how helpful it can be. I think we have narrow artificial intelligence now that we don’t even think about like our Alexa and our Siri at home that help us navigate day-to-day work,” said Shinica Thomas.
Thomas, the chair of the Wake County Board of Commissioners who also served on the Broadband Task Force for the state, has been selected with 15 other county officials from across the country who will represent a national exploratory committee focused on artificial intelligence. The NACo Artificial Intelligence Exploratory Committee will look at assessing AI technology, the risks and possibilities for government operations, as well as policies and practices.
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“AI is going to run the future like how we get loans, how we do banking, how we look for jobs and how employers choose folks for jobs,” said Thomas. She added, “We’ll be talking about what’s going to be good for counties, what counties can use it for and also what some of the barriers might be.”
In her position, Thomas hopes that she can make recommendations to help prevent the disparities and biases of artificial intelligence—especially data among women and minorities. Thomas explained that the system uses information already on the internet.
“We know that not all of that is true,” said Thomas. She also said, “People who put artificial intelligence together, especially some of the facial recognition and data analytics, they don’t always look like you or me. We want to make sure, in creating some of this work, that those biases are not included.”
In addition to preventing biases, Thomas hopes the committee can also help prevent fraud. She said fraud has already impacted many seniors. Thomas said Wake County’s senior population is expected to grow and seniors will outnumber people under the age of 18 by 2029.
“We want to make sure we’re protecting our seniors and understand what information is true and what information is like a virtual reality,” said Thomas.
By having safeguards in place, Thomas believes technology can be beneficial for communities—especially in public safety.
The committee is expected to meet in July. Thomas said she also hopes to work with state representatives to make sure recommendations are being made that will consider local, county and state levels. Thomas said, “We are a tech hub… I think people often think about California and the Silicon Valleys and maybe the Texas or Austin area when they think of technology, but North Carolina, in this region, is big on technology, too… I want to bring all of that information there, both back to the community and this region, and to have that voice at the table for this workgroup.”
