Latest news with #AkilahWeberPierson
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
California Senate passes bill that aims to make AI chatbots safer
California lawmakers on Tuesday moved one step closer to placing more guardrails around artificial intelligence-powered chatbots. The Senate passed a bill that aims to make chatbots used for companionship safer after parents raised concerns that virtual characters harmed their childrens' mental health. Read more: Teens are spilling dark thoughts to AI chatbots. Who's to blame when something goes wrong? The legislation, which now heads to the California State Assembly, shows how state lawmakers are tackling safety concerns surrounding AI as tech companies release more AI-powered tools. "The country is watching again for California to lead," said Sen. Steve Padilla (D-Chula Vista), one of the lawmakers who introduced the bill, on the Senate floor. At the same time, lawmakers are trying to balance concerns that they could be hindering innovation. Groups opposed to the bill such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation say the legislation is too broad and would run into free speech issues, according to a Senate floor analysis of the bill. Under Senate Bill 243, operators of companion chatbot platforms would remind users at least every three hours that the virtual characters aren't human. They would also disclose that companion chatbots might not be suitable for some minors. Platforms would also need to take other steps such as implementing a protocol for addressing suicidal ideation, suicide or self-harm expressed by users. That includes showing users suicide prevention resources. The operator of these platforms would also report the number of times a companion chatbot brought up suicide ideation or actions with a user, along with other requirements. Dr. Akilah Weber Pierson, one of the bill's co-authors, said she supports innovation but it also must come with "ethical responsibility." Chatbots, the senator said, are engineered to hold people's attention including children. 'When a child begins to prefer interacting with AI over real human relationships, that is very concerning," said Sen. Weber Pierson (D-La Mesa). The bill defines companion chatbots as AI systems capable of meeting the social needs of users. It excludes chatbots that businesses use for customer service. The legislation garnered support from parents who lost their children after they started chatting with chatbots. One of those parents is Megan Garcia, a Florida mom who sued Google and after her son Sewell Setzer III died by suicide last year. In the lawsuit, she alleges the platform's chatbots harmed her son's mental health and failed to notify her or offer help when he expressed suicidal thoughts to these virtual characters. based in Menlo Park, Calif., is a platform where people can create and interact with digital characters that mimic real and fictional people. The company has said that it takes teen safety seriously and rolled out a feature that gives parents more information about the amount of time their children are spending with chatbots on the platform. asked a federal court to dismiss the lawsuit, but a federal judge in May allowed the case to proceed. Sign up for our Wide Shot newsletter to get the latest entertainment business news, analysis and insights. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
6 days ago
- Health
- Los Angeles Times
California Senate passes bill that aims to make AI chatbots safer
California lawmakers on Tuesday moved one step closer to placing more guardrails around artificial intelligence-powered chatbots. The Senate passed a bill that aims to make chatbots used for companionship safer after parents raised concerns that virtual characters harmed their childrens' mental health. The legislation, which now heads to the California State Assembly, shows how state lawmakers are tackling safety concerns surrounding AI as tech companies release more AI-powered tools. 'The country is watching again for California to lead,' said Sen. Steve Padilla (D-Chula Vista), one of the lawmakers who introduced the bill, on the Senate floor. At the same time, lawmakers are trying to balance concerns that they could be hindering innovation. Groups opposed to the bill such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation say the legislation is too broad and would run into free speech issues, according to a Senate floor analysis of the bill. Under Senate Bill 243, operators of companion chatbot platforms would remind users at least every three hours that the virtual characters aren't human. They would also disclose that companion chatbots might not be suitable for some minors. Platforms would also need to take other steps such as implementing a protocol for addressing suicidal ideation, suicide or self-harm expressed by users. That includes showing users suicide prevention resources. The operator of these platforms would also report the number of times a companion chatbot brought up suicide ideation or actions with a user, along with other requirements. Dr. Akilah Weber Pierson, one of the bill's co-authors, said she supports innovation but it also must come with 'ethical responsibility.' Chatbots, the senator said, are engineered to hold people's attention including children. 'When a child begins to prefer interacting with AI over real human relationships, that is very concerning,' said Sen. Weber Pierson (D-La Mesa). The bill defines companion chatbots as AI systems capable of meeting the social needs of users. It excludes chatbots that businesses use for customer service. The legislation garnered support from parents who lost their children after they started chatting with chatbots. One of those parents is Megan Garcia, a Florida mom who sued Google and after her son Sewell Setzer III died by suicide last year. In the lawsuit, she alleges the platform's chatbots harmed her son's mental health and failed to notify her or offer help when he expressed suicidal thoughts to these virtual characters. based in Menlo Park, Calif., is a platform where people can create and interact with digital characters that mimic real and fictional people. The company has said that it takes teen safety seriously and rolled out a feature that gives parents more information about the amount of time their children are spending with chatbots on the platform. asked a federal court to dismiss the lawsuit, but a federal judge in May allowed the case to proceed.
Miami Herald
13-05-2025
- Health
- Miami Herald
A California lawmaker leans into her medical training in fight for health safety net
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - State Sen. Akilah Weber Pierson anticipates that California's sprawling Medicaid program, known as Medi-Cal, may need to be dialed back after Gov. Gavin Newsom releases his latest budget, which could reflect a multibillion-dollar deficit. Even so, the physician-turned-lawmaker, who was elected to the state Senate in November, says her priorities as chair of a budget health subcommittee include preserving coverage for the state's most vulnerable, particularly children and people with chronic health conditions. "We will be spending many, many hours and long nights figuring this out," Weber Pierson said of the lead-up to the state's June 15 deadline for lawmakers to pass a balanced budget. With Medicaid cuts on the table in Washington and Medi-Cal running billions of dollars over budget due to rising drug prices and higher-than-anticipated costs to cover immigrants without legal status, Weber Pierson's dual responsibilities - maintaining a balanced budget and delivering compassionate care to the state's poorest residents - could make her instrumental in leading Democrats through this period of uncertainty. President Donald Trump has said GOP efforts to cut federal spending will not touch Medicaid beyond "waste, fraud, and abuse." Congressional Republicans are considering going after states such as California that extend coverage to immigrants without legal status and imposing restrictions on provider taxes. California voters in November made permanent the state's tax on managed-care health plans to continue funding Medi-Cal. The federal budget megabill is winding its way through Congress, where Republicans have set a target of $880 billion in spending cuts over 10 years from the House committee that oversees the Medicaid program. Health care policy researchers say that would inevitably force the program to restrict eligibility, narrow the scope of benefits, or both. Medi-Cal covers 1 in 3 Californians, and more than half of its nearly $175 billion budget comes from the federal government. One of a handful of practicing physicians in the state legislature, Weber Pierson is leaning heavily on her experience as a pediatric and adolescent gynecologist who treats children with reproductive birth defects - one of only two in Southern California. Weber Pierson spoke to KFF Health News correspondent Christine Mai-Duc in Sacramento this spring. She has introduced bills to improve timely access to care for pregnant Medi-Cal patients, require developers to mitigate bias in artificial intelligence algorithms used in health care, and compel health plans to cover screenings for housing, food insecurity, and other social determinants of health. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Q: You're a state senator, you practice medicine in your district, and you're also a mom. What does that look like day to day? A: When you grow up around someone who juggles a lot, that just kind of becomes the norm. I saw this with my mom [former state Assembly member Shirley Weber, who is now secretary of state]. I'm really happy that I'm able to continue with my clinical duties. Those in the health care profession understand how much time, energy, effort, and money we put into becoming a health care provider, and I'm still fairly early in my career. With my particular specialty, it would also be a huge void in the San Diego region for me to step back. Q: What are the biggest threats or challenges in health care right now? A: The immediate threats are the financial issues and our budget. A lot of people do not understand the overwhelming amount of dollars that go into our health care system from the federal government. Another issue is access. Almost everybody in California is covered by insurance. The problem is that we have not expanded access to providers. If you have insurance but your nearest labor and delivery unit is still two hours away, what exactly have we really done for those patients? The third thing is the social determinants of health. The fact that your life expectancy is based on the ZIP code in which you were born is absolutely criminal. Why are certain areas devoid of having supermarkets where you can go and get fresh fruits and vegetables? And then we wonder why certain people have high blood pressure and diabetes and obesity. Q: On the federal level, there's a lot of conversation happening around Medicaid cuts, reining in the MCO tax, and potentially dropping Affordable Care Act premium subsidies. Which is the biggest threat to California? A: To be quite honest with you, all of those. The MCO tax was a recognition that we needed more providers, and in order to get more providers, we need to increase the Medi-Cal reimbursement rates. The fact that now it is at risk is very, very concerning. That is how we are able to care for those who are our most vulnerable in our state. Q: If those cuts do come, what do we cut? How do we cut it? A: We are in a position where we have to talk about it at this point. Our Medi-Cal budget, outside of what the federal government may do, is exploding. We definitely have to ensure that those who are our most vulnerable - our kids, those with chronic conditions - continue to have some sort of coverage. What will that look like? To be quite honest with you, at this point, I don't know. Q: How can the state make it the least painful for Californians? A: Sometimes the last one to the table is the first one to have to leave the table. And so I think that's probably an approach that we will look at. What were some of the more recent things that we've added, and we've added a lot of stuff lately. How can we trim down - maybe not completely eliminate, but trim down on - some of these services to try to make them more affordable? Q: When you say the last at the table, are you talking about the expansion of Medi-Cal coverage to Californians without legal status? Certain age groups? A: I don't want to get ahead of this conversation, because it is a very large conversation between not only me but also the [Senate president] pro tem, the Assembly speaker, and the governor's office. But those conversations are being had, keeping in mind that we want to provide the best care for as many people as possible. Q: You're carrying a bill related to AI in health care this year. Tell me what you're trying to address. A: It has just exploded at a speed that I don't know any of us were anticipating. We are trying to play catch-up, because we weren't really at the table when all of this stuff was being rolled out. As we advance in technology, it's been great; we've extended lives. But we need to make sure that the biases that led to various discrepancies and health care outcomes are not the same biases that are inputted into that system. Q: How does Sacramento policy impact your patients and what experience as a physician do you bring to policymaking? A: I speak with my colleagues with actual knowledge of what's happening with our patients, what's happening in the clinics. My patients and my fellow providers will often come to me and say, "You guys are getting ready to do this, and this is why it's going to be a problem." And I'm like, "OK, that's really good to know." I work at a children's facility, and right after the election, specialty hospitals were very concerned around funding and their ability to continue to practice. In the MCO discussion, I was hearing from providers, hospitals on the ground on a regular basis. With the executive order [on gender-affirming care for transgender youth], I have seen people that I work with concerned, because these are patients that they take care of. I'm very grateful for the opportunity to be in both worlds. ____ This article was produced by KFF Health News, which publishes California Healthline, an editorially independent service of the California Health Care Foundation. Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
California brings new state reparations bills amid Trump onslaught on DEI: ‘The fight for justice'
Amid the Trump administration's full throated attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion, Black lawmakers in California introduced a package of reparations bills to start the new legislative session. Black legislators say these attacks on racial equity make it even more imperative to implement reparations in California, the first state in the US to undertake such a process, which has become a blueprint for other state-level reparations programs. 'With the constant attacks on civil rights and the rolling back of decades of progress, it is essential that we continue the fight for justice,' said the state senator Akilah Weber Pierson, chair of the congressional Black caucus. The bills, which are based on recommendations from the California reparations taskforce's landmark 2023 report, include measures that could give priority in public university admission for descendants of enslaved people, update the public elementary and high-school curriculum to include the 'impacts of segregation, slavery, and systemic discrimination', and require government agencies to conduct racial equity analysis. Related: LA Times reportedly removes new AI tool from story after it downplayed KKK It's the second package of reparations legislation introduced by the Black caucus. Last year, only seven of the 16 reparations bills introduced were signed into law. Most notable among them was a formal apology for the state's role in perpetuating slavery. Internal division, as well as a veto from Gavin Newsom, the state governor, led to three of the caucus' signature bills – including one that could have created the mechanism for cash payments – being defeated. Now, in addition to a political climate that's becoming increasingly hostile to any attempts at advancing racial equity, the Black caucus faces a growing chorus of frustration from reparations advocates who are demanding even more ambitious policy proposals and swift implementation. 'We are very confident in our package, which includes bills that have bipartisan support,' Weber Pierson said. 'The fact that Republicans support our efforts shows that, even in the current political climate, the need to repair the centuries of harm imposed on Black Americans goes beyond political affiliations – it is a moral obligation.' One of the main points of contention between the Black caucus and some reparations advocates is around the proposal to create – and fund – an agency to oversee statewide reparations programs. In the final days of the last legislative session, bowing to pressure from Newsom's office, which wanted to see additional genealogy studies to determine eligibility included in the bill, the caucus pulled the package entirely. Dozens of advocates rushed to the state Capitol to protest in a heated standoff against legislators. Last month, the caucus reintroduced a version of this bill that, to the frustration of advocates, includes additional research requirements to determine eligibility for recipients. Even Kamilah Moore, the former taskforce chair, has been critical of this strategy. 'They created a different agency that's dependent on an additional study on genealogy,' she said. 'I think it was a mistake.' The taskforce made more than 100 recommendations in its 1,000-page report, Moore said, and the caucus should use those as its North Star. Yet she says they have 'deviated' from the course. Now, Moore and a group of reparations advocates are collaborating with an unlikely ally, Republican assembly member Bill Essayli – a Trump supporter who has expressed support for reparations in the past – to introduce a different version of the bill. While it draws on the Black caucus' original proposal that was pulled from a vote at the last minute, Essayli's version calls for the creation of a body called the Freedmen's affairs agency that would be modeled after the federal program that supported formerly enslaved people after the civil war. This agency could place fewer conditions on eligibility for reparations programs and payments. 'We already did a study, called the California reparations taskforce,' said organizer Chris Lodgson, who works with the reparations advocacy group Coalition for a Just and Equitable California (CJEC). He also helped to draft the Freedmen affairs agency with Essayli. 'What we're interested in is actual implementation.' Another criticism leveled against the Black caucus is how it's spending the $12m Newsom included in last year's state budget for reparations implementations. None of the money has been used yet, Weber Pierson's office told the Guardian. The proposed genealogical research alone would cost an estimated $6m. Advocates are frustrated that the money has still not been used, and that if a large chunk is spent on additional research, it could be siphoned away from any reparations programs, including any cash programs that groups such as CJEC have been pushing. Cash reparations were a central feature of the taskforce's recommendations and could be part of the compensation both agencies would be tasked with considering. When asked about cash reparations, a spokesperson for the Black caucus said that 'substantial economic resources must be granted to Black Californians to correct the generational harms that were inflicted'. We already did a study ... What we're interested in is actual implementation Chris Lodgson Newsom has shied away from addressing the issue directly, saying only that reparations are 'about much more than cash payments' in an interview with Fox News after the release of the report. His office told the Guardian his position has not changed. Essayli told the Guardian his bill 'is not about cash reparations, it's about recognition and real opportunity to realize the American dream'. Meanwhile, as the Trump administration attempts to remove DEI measures in federal programs, firing personnel and weakening civil rights protections, a broader movement against racial equity is gaining momentum. (Trump himself hasn't specifically addressed California's reparations agenda since taking office again.) The supreme court's ruling in 2023 banning the use of affirmative action has impacted Black enrollment rates at some elite universities, and the University of California system was sued earlier this month for allegedly continuing to use affirmative action policy. Nearly 70 anti-DEI cases have been filed since 2024, according to a tracking database compiled by NYU School of Law. This list includes the lawsuit filed against the Evanston municipal reparations program by a conservative legal group, which argues the program is unconstitutional because it discriminates based on race. It's been an 'engineered onslaught' of these legal cases, said attorney Lisa Holder, founder of the Equal Justice Initiative. About a year ago, Holder co-founded a coalition of law firms and civil rights attorneys to fight back. The goal is to 'defend, protect and advance policies along the spectrum of diversity, equity, inclusion, to repairing the harm', she said. States have to stand up and be the voice of resistance ... the voice for marginalized people Areva Martin 'This work for justice is a marathon,' said lawyer Areva Martin, who helped to negotiate a $5.9m settlement with the city of Palm Springs for a group of survivors and descendants that were forcibly evicted from their homes in the 1960s. The predominantly Black and Latino neighborhood, called Section 14, was razed by the city to make way for urban renewal projects. 'States have to stand up and be the voice of resistance, be the voice for marginalized people,' she said. On a federal level, legislation to study and develop reparations programs, HR 40, which was first introduced by the late representative John Conyers in 1989, was reintroduced in February by representative Ayanna Pressley. Pressley described the present moment as a 'painful inflection point' in an interview with NBC News, and vowed to keep working to 'blunt the assaults from a hostile administration', especially when it comes to civil rights. California leads the way nationally as both a bulwark for civil rights protection and advancing racial equity, but also as an example for what a state reparations process can look like. 'California has a lot of eyes on it, and so what happens here is really informing a lot of places,' said organizer Kristin Nimmers, who works with the group California Black Power Network. 'California organizers are helping different movements across the nation.' Related: It's been a year of modest victories and tough losses for California's reparations movement. What comes next? Both New York and Illinois are in the process of developing their own reparations legislation, and New Jersey has created a community-run reparations council. The New York reparations commission, formed by the governor last year, is expected to release its report sometime this year. And the Illinois African descent-citizens reparations commission is expected to release a harm report in early 2026. 'California has provided incredible inspiration,' said New York City-based reparations organizer Trevor Smith, co-founder of the community organization BLIS Collective. 'New York has the opportunity to build off that foundation, while taking a unique approach that reflects our own history,' he said. The work of California's congressional Black caucus 'sets a framework for the rest of the country on how to repair historical harms', Weber Pierson said. 'It transcends who is in office. It is something that must be done, and will get done.'
