(The Center Square) – Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed an executive order earlier this week creating an Artificial Intelligence Cabinet for Illinois, which will advise the state’s policies on the technology.
One Republican state representative is cautious in his support of the cabinet and it could become a regulatory overreach.
“The governor will seek input from state agency leaders and announce members of the cabinet in the coming weeks. The AI cabinet will include a broad cross-sector of experts from academia, law, ethics, governance and more,” according to a news release.
The executive order refers to warnings of “catastrophic impacts” of AI made by people building the technology in recent weeks, which the governor responded to earlier this month by calling on Congress to pass regulatory legislation.
State Rep. Jeff Keicher, R-Sycamore, said he’s not certain recent concerns about the technology aren’t overblown, but he’d welcome the cabinet if there’s a strategic approach that won’t inhibit development.
“I welcome an Illinois AI Cabinet if its charge is that full picture – risk and readiness, safeguards and speed against those who do not share our values, accountability for harm and ambition for what this technology can still do,” Keicher said.
He said he feels the state’s role should be focused on reducing individual harms that could be caused by AI, like job loss or state security threats – which the cabinet is poised to address.
“The role of state government in that is to make sure that our individual citizens are protected with guardrails, but not to inhibit the upside that would come from AI being able to make everyone more productive and more successful in any line of work potentially,” Keicher said.
Keicher explained why he thinks federal and other government regulations of AI companies may become a hindrance.
“If we start crafting national policy based on what the level playing field is today – with how slow the pace is of government – we will be inhibiting the furtherance of the positive aspects of AI because we’re fearful of the negative,” Keicher said.
He said if regulation hinders development, the nation could risk falling behind other countries and put itself at greater risk to the technology being used by bad actors.
To that end, President Donald Trump met with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday to discuss both nations’ development and regulation of the technology – which the president has begun calling “Super Intelligence,” or S.I., pushing a rebrand because “artificial makes it sound fake.”
Prior to the two leaders’ meeting, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent met with a Chinese delegation to discuss their relationship as it relates to AI
“The U.S. has proposed that we have a notification mechanism between the two countries and we want a shared vision of common goals and common threats,” Bessent said after the meeting. “Just like with any cross-border activity, that moving from opaque to more transparency between the number one and the number two AI powers in the world is very important.”
The announcement for Pritzker’s new AI Cabinet comes after he signed the AI Safety Measures Act into law in July, which Keicher approved.
Some of the largest companies in the field, such as OpenAI and Anthropic, were involved in guiding the legislation that has been called the “nation’s strongest framework for AI.”
