Comité Science and Technology del Senado, 11 de marzo de 2026

Transcripción

268 turnos. Seleccione un tiempo para reproducir ese momento del video.

1. 0:17:04

   On, uh, a bill and a resolution. And, um, like to appreciate, like, express my thanks for coming on a non-session day. Um, we're gonna take up first today House Bill 986 then Senate Resolution 789. And with that, Chair, I'd like to recognize, uh, Representative Jones from the 25th to speak to House Bill 986. Representative Jones, welcome. Chairman Jones.

2. 0:17:32

   Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the committee. I come to you with House Bill 986, LC39-4860. Um, four years ago, uh, the General Assembly led the way in terms of being able to put PDDs onto the roads. Uh, many of you call them basically coolers with four wheels, but you see them a lot here in Metro Atlanta and other areas of density. We were the first state to truly put this into the statute. Since that time, over the last four years, we've seen as many as 20 states repeat what we have done, and frankly, we learned a little bit from what the other states have done.

3. 0:18:06

   It's the beauty, uh, of federalism. And so in that case, we were, we were able to meet with the Georgia Department of Transportation. We met with the counties. We met with the cities. We met with the sheriffs who are full service sheriffs, and we met with the police to say, "If we're gonna make improvements, what should the improvements be based on what we've seen from other states?" And if I could refer you to starting with line 16, we made three changes. On line 16, we were one of the only states that were doing an emitting of a sound upon the approach of the PDD.

4. 0:18:40

   We now will make it a consistent sound. On line 24, we went from four miles an hour to seven miles an hour, and then on line 26, we went from four to seven in the crosswalk. If I could be so kind, I'll quickly explain why we made these changes, if that's okay, Mr. Chairman. On line 16 and 17, this was primarily due to individuals with disability, uh, those with visual disabilities, and them being able to hear, uh, the approaching PDD. On line 24 and on line 26, nearly every other state went to 10 to 12 miles an hour.

5. 0:19:18

   We weren't comfortable yet moving that fast, no pun intended, from four to 10 or four to 12, so what we did was we split the difference and we went to seven, feeling that would give us at least more time to reflect upon, is this increase in speed appropriate? It also, I think, reflects on nearly every technical bill that will go through this body over the next decade or so, which is, we probably need to come back to nearly all of them every few years and revisit them just because of the advancement in technology. The crosswalk, I wanna do special attention to.

6. 0:19:49

   GDOT was... I, I don't wanna use the word insistent, but they were very happy that we moved it faster because they are having challenges in Atlanta, especially on four-lane and six-lane roads. Keeping them at four miles an hour was causing significant delay in traffic, especially with right turns. So actually moving them from four to seven across the crosswalk, we hope will create a greater efficiency within the traffic pattern, especially here in Atlanta. With that stated, Mr. Chairman, I'm happy to stand for any questions.

7. 0:20:19

   Appreciate that. Do we have any questions for the bill sponsor?

8. 0:20:26

   Chair recognizes the senator from Hall.

9. 0:20:28

   Thank you. Thank you, uh, Representative, for bringing this. I, I just, uh, I had a brief presentation in my office a couple weeks ago about it, and it was very interesting. I'd just like to say that I'm glad that some people down here are forward-thinking and because I never would've thought that this was an issue, but I can absolutely see how it is an issue. So thank you, and I look forward to seeing where this legislation goes.

10. 0:20:48

    Thank you.

11. 0:20:50

    Recognize the senator. Chair recognizes Senator Wicks.

12. 0:20:54

    Mr. Chairman, I make a motion to do pass.

13. 0:20:57

    Um, appreciate... Uh, I'll, I'll take that motion in a moment. I'm not quite ready for that, but thank you for that. Um, I've got a couple questions for the author and see if there's anyone else to sign up to speak. Um, um, Chairman, have you ever run the Peachtree Road Race?

14. 0:21:12

    I have not. I've run, uh, primarily triathlons, uh, New York, Tennessee, down in the Caribbean, et cetera, but I haven't run the Peachtree, no.

15. 0:21:20

    Is anyone in the audience, raise your hand if you've ever run the Peachtree. Okay. Now I don't, I'm not gonna ask you to confess your Peachtree time. Seven miles an hour is a 53 minute and 30 second Peachtree Road Race.

16. 0:21:31

    Mm-hmm.

17. 0:21:31

    Which is not gonna ever win the Peachtree, but it's more than, it's way faster than a walk. It's, it's... I mean, it's, it's about, you know, s- seven miles an hour is a good, good, good, good chug. You know, m- my sense would be we could go a little faster than seven, but if it's, if it's a cautious step, I don't think anyone can complain about that move. So I think that's, it's a, it's a, it's a decent jogging pace. Um, my question, um, my serious question is the, the in motion and, and the, the, uh, sound emitting, we don't need to designate all this by, um, by statute.

18. 0:22:03

    Um, I will just say if there's anyone here from the industry that's part of this, my only concern is just, uh, speaking as a member, not as the chair, is that it not be some annoying loud sound that every f- time these things are on the sidewalks, it's, there's, th- these become these annoyances. And I can imagine it becoming a real irritant, you know, to people that every time one of these is coming by. Because in law, we've got to say that it's, it's, it's making a noise. That gives me a little pause. Uh, I don't think we need to prescribe that in statute if it makes some s- some soft noise. Maybe it gets louder if, in some conditions. Uh, I just share that to the industry that, you know, for uptake for consumers, we don't want these things to become annoyances to people, that becomes sort of the butt of jokes.

19. 0:22:41

    I think this, this is a real thing we wanna see thrive.

20. 0:22:44

    Yeah, so do you need me to respond to that, Mr. Chairman?

21. 0:22:46

    Please. Yeah, yeah.

22. 0:22:46

    Yeah. So, Mr. Chairman, uh, absolutely. Uh, these will not be going at 90 decibels. Uh, we clearly, in Inman Park, for instance, we don't want them going everywhere and then at a 90 decibel. It will be basically between maybe 40 and 45, uh, basically conversational tone. The people outside in Inman Park eating will actually be probably louder than what that, what that, I'll say, that ping sound is. That stated, I won't speak for industry, but just as a Georgian, uh, as it approaches individuals, there will most likely be an increase in that sound, only because we just wanna continue to alert people that, hey, we were maybe at a 40.

23. 0:23:19

    We might move up to a 70. Again, just for alert purposes. Uh, but again, the industry The industry, I believe, is aligned with us in terms of safety, and also we want to make sure those with individual, with, pardon me, with disabilities have the ability and know that if a PDD is around to basically be alerted by, I'll just say a low sound, but definitely one that they could hear either approaching them or basically, I'll say, departing from where th- where they're located.

24. 0:23:43

    Sure. Um, any further questions for the sponsor? Seeing none, we don't see a sign-up list. Does anyone here want to speak to, um, the bill while we're meeting? Anybody want to speak to it? Seeing none, what's the pleasure of the committee? Chair recognizes Senator Wicks.

25. 0:24:04

    Motion to do pass.

26. 0:24:05

    A motion to do pass. Do I have a second?

27. 0:24:07

    Second.

28. 0:24:07

    Second. Any discussion on the motion? Hearing none, all those in favor of, uh, sending it forward to the Rules Committee with a do pass recommendation, raise your right hand. Unanimously. You're done.

29. 0:24:18

    All right. Thank you, sir.

30. 0:24:18

    Appreciate you. Appreciate you br- bringing the bill.

31. 0:24:24

    Representative James, who's gonna be carrying the bill?

32. 0:24:25

    Uh, Frank Ginn.

33. 0:24:26

    Okay.

34. 0:24:27

    I'm sorry about that.

35. 0:24:27

    No worries.

36. 0:24:27

    I should've mentioned that to the chair.

37. 0:24:29

    45 years in a row, Peachtree Road Race.

38. 0:24:51

    Up next, we have Senate Resolution 789, a study committee resolution. Chair would like to recognize Senator James. Um, could Steph, could, could Steph move one of those chairs for her so she could, uh, may- maybe speak, sp- speak more, a little more easily? Thank you very much.

39. 0:25:19

    Excuse me.

40. 0:25:19

    That's good.

41. 0:25:20

    Blubber me. Okay.

42. 0:25:27

    Sorry.

43. 0:25:27

    Senator James, welcome.

44. 0:25:29

    Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee. And, uh, Mr. Chairman, I do appreciate you hearing this resolution today, and I hope that it will be favorable, uh, by the whole committee. Uh, but this is just a resolution that will, uh, study the impact of artificial intelligence on the film industry.

45. 0:25:59

    I've been working, uh, for years with the film industry, as, as many people know, and, uh, I was number two signer on the tax credit bill with Senator M- uh, then Mullis and, uh, Senator, the former Senator Beach and Senator Brass. And we've, we did get it there, so we kind of feel like we gotta really work and protect everyone and keep them here in Georgia because it has helped our economy.

46. 0:26:33

    Excuse me. Senate b- Senate Resolution 789, uh, will be, will create that senate study committee, and the committee, uh, will have five meetings. The committee is composed of eight members, which will be five appointed by the President of the Senate, with two designated as chair- co-chairpersons with certain requirements, and the Commissioner of Economic Development or his designee, and also two representatives from the film, Georgia Film Academy, uh, so that they, we can look at everything that, of course, AI is doing here, uh, to so many different industries, but especially besides education, uh, it's, it's tools for different companies, especially the film industry.

47. 0:27:33

    However, it can adversely affect the, uh, creative intelligence of this industry. Uh, the writers, uh, don't know how to protect their creations, uh, as well as, uh, the whole industry. So, thank you, and I do have some people who are experts in this area that have w- come a long way to, to, uh, speak to you this morning, if it's okay.

48. 0:28:05

    I will recognize some folks. Do we have anybody here, do we have a sign-up list?

49. 0:28:10

    Sign-up list.

50. 0:28:10

    Sign-up list work. Could, c- could, could you circulate? Is there anybody here that wants to sign up to speak to this that's not signed up to speak yet? Okay.

51. 0:28:18

    Okay. Yeah, the one on the end.

52. 0:28:19

    Have you signed up to speak yet?

53. 0:28:20

    The guy on, two on the end.

54. 0:28:22

    Y- y- you guys have both signed up to speak?

55. 0:28:24

    Uh-huh, both of them.

56. 0:28:25

    Is anybody else? Okay.

57. 0:28:25

    And the president of the, uh, union for the film industry of Georgia.

58. 0:28:33

    Yeah.

59. 0:28:33

    Right? Did I get that?

60. 0:28:36

    One of the great things-

61. 0:28:36

    Mr. Gregory Waddell.

62. 0:28:38

    Okay.

63. 0:28:38

    You want him to come first?

64. 0:28:39

    In, in a moment. In a moment.

65. 0:28:40

    Okay.

66. 0:28:40

    Once everyone sign up.

67. 0:28:41

    Thank you.

68. 0:28:42

    Um, one thing about the committee process in the Georgia General Assembly is the public's able to be heard, so I want to make sure-

69. 0:28:48

    Thank you

70. 0:28:48

    ... giving folks a chance to do that.

71. 0:28:49

    I appreciate it. Thank you.

72. 0:28:55

    This industry has really, uh, helped our economy here all over Georgia. And we went from number, uh, 39 in the nation in film industry to number one, ahead of Hollywood and New York, uh, who have been there forever and ever.

73. 0:29:16

    Sure.

74. 0:29:17

    So we w- and now some of the other states have, uh, some kind of tax credit, but they have not been able to move our, uh- Uh, even during the writers' strike move any of our film industry, uh, to one of their states just because they were given incentives as well. Okay. So, uh, they would be happy to speak. And actually today, the House had a, um, a meeting on their, uh, creative...

75. 0:29:51

    I forgotten what it is. It's a whole long name.

76. 0:29:53

    Cre- Creative Arts Committee, yeah.

77. 0:29:54

    Yes. And, um, it was so many people there who are interested in this and who will be coming if we do have a, a he- uh, this study committee, they'll be coming and, uh, making testimonies then, so they can see what we can do. As you know, the music industry has, um, copy- they copyright their songs and their music, and even if you say, for example, when somebody wanted to do a commercial, they can't just use their favorite tunes unless they get approval from the, uh, person that's singing it as well as the one who has copywritten the whole thing.

78. 0:30:36

    Mm-hmm.

79. 0:30:36

    But they don't have this with, uh, AI right now, so we were looking at that. And they wanted to speak, and I'll be quiet and answer any questions you have.

80. 0:30:48

    Yeah. I, I, I've never, um, I've never copyrighted my appearance. I will tell you, my appearance has been used by people even though I didn't give permission to on, on mail pieces before.

81. 0:30:58

    Oh.

82. 0:30:58

    I've some experience with that. Um-

83. 0:31:00

    Yes, Mr. Chairman.

84. 0:31:01

    It happens in politics. But it- that's, it's, it's not always a welcome change, but- ... in the creative arts, it's, it's not the, it's not politics. Um, uh, Senator, if, if you want to, um, kind of hang tight, I'm gonna let the folks come up here, uh-

85. 0:31:16

    Okay

86. 0:31:16

    ... t-t-to your left-

87. 0:31:17

    Mm-hmm

88. 0:31:17

    ... and speak. Um-

89. 0:31:19

    Can't... Mr. Waddill, I don't think, did you sign up, sir?

90. 0:31:22

    I, I'm gonna, I'm gonna recognize-

91. 0:31:24

    There you are.

92. 0:31:25

    ... Mr. Kwan Cutter. Come on up here and grab a seat-

93. 0:31:29

    Got a little better

94. 0:31:30

    ... to her, her left, if you would, please. Um, tell us who you are, who you represent, and I'm gonna give you guys about three minutes each to speak. Okay?

95. 0:31:38

    Sure. Sure. I'll try to make it short and that, make space for everybody. So, hello everyone today. Um, uh, uh, my, my name is Kwan Cutter. My, my background, um, extends over 30 years, um, in IT. I did, uh, computing infrastructure for United States Marine Corps during Desert, uh, Desert Shield. Um, I built out, uh, a lot of the, during the dotcom era here in Ja- in, in the city of Atlanta, watched the technical infrastructure grow. Um, I built out some of the existing, uh, the preliminary data centers for, um, for, uh, a lot of the big companies here in Atlanta that extended to me, me being, uh, having a, a, uh, development relationship, um, in China for a few years, and then that migrated me to Japan, um, taking my entrepreneurial skills and technology skills, um, to Japan.

96. 0:32:24

    But my background is also in, um, film. Um, I went to film school and theater school in New York for about a year until I got the, uh, bill and saw how much it was. So quickly joined the Marine Corps to get some money. Um, but, um, the idea of what we need as far as the, um, the ability for us to have a study on the impact of AI, um, I run into it every day. Um, we run a cross-border development, um, business that includes entertainment. We have our own entertainmer- entertainers in film, um, uh, film individuals. Um, it's, I think it's a necessary, uh, uh, investment to find ways to look at how do we secure, um, our intellectual property, um, with the advances of technology.

97. 0:33:08

    Um, also our ways of securing this advancement in technology has to update and change as well. Uh, there needs to be a study on that. There's a lot of innovative ideas that have already been put forth. Um, and it's a, an necessary, uh, investment to protect, to protect the infrastructure Georgia has in its film and entertainment industry. Um, and I think I'll, I'll leave with that.

98. 0:33:32

    Okay.

99. 0:33:32

    Yes, sir.

100. 0:33:32

     Any questions, uh, for Mr. Cutter?

101. 0:33:38

     I have one.

102. 0:33:39

     Yes, sir.

103. 0:33:40

     Um, where do you draw the line, in your view, between what should be a human-created, um, expression of creativity and entertainment and, um, that should be solely human beings and AI should not be? Where would you draw the line?

104. 0:33:57

     Um, well, I mean, AI infers a lot of its, um, uh, results from human intelligence, um, and it maybe develop its own. I, I think what needs to happen and some of the innovative things that could happen following the guidelines of what we do right now with intellectual property, um, protection, the ability for somebody to denote what's their idea or concept, um, wrap that in some form of security and have that security, um, be embedded, uh, and protected where it can be metered and used by others, but there's always a stamp on what they create.

105. 0:34:29

     Um, I think that's the delineation, is what we create from our mind, from our experiences and our, um, our relationships, that is what defines our creative, uh, input. Um, and what a computer can actually compute on that, um, uh, is either an augment on that, but the core idea and concept should be recorded e-even if it's from one person or metered between others. I think that's, that delineation between those. I think there's, the individual concept needs to be protected somehow.

106. 0:34:55

     Where is that protected right now, um, in, outside of AI? You know, for example, if you were a, uh, if you were a rock band in the 1970s, say you're Aerosmith, and you had some guit- you had a guitar riff that, that's sampled, you know, by a rap band in the 1990s, when does it sort of go from being sort of a 12-note riff to being something that's real IP? H-how is that managed outside of the AI context?

107. 0:35:22

     Yeah. R-r-right now, look to the copyright office. I think, um, I, I think the laws that we have on intellectual property is probably the best guidelines that we have now, even if those need to be updated. I think that would be part of that study. Um, but I think the guidelines that we have with, uh, the current infrastructure we have on intellectual property is where we would start. And then where it ends, I think we'd have a goal, and we'd use that study to find out where that is in between.

108. 0:35:47

     Super. Any further questions?

109. 0:35:50

     Wanna bring-

110. 0:35:51

     Uh, um, um, um, we'll recognize our speakers. Yeah

111. 0:35:54

     Okay.

112. 0:35:54

     Any further questions? Hearing none, thank you for your time.

113. 0:35:56

     Yes, sir.

114. 0:36:00

     Chair recognizes Mr. James Harris.

115. 0:36:07

     If you're not on this list, you're not gonna get recognized. Is there anybody that's, that's not on this list that wa- expects to speak?

116. 0:36:12

     Oh, I didn't want her to speak. I just-

117. 0:36:13

     Okay

118. 0:36:13

     ... know she came from-

119. 0:36:14

     Okay

120. 0:36:14

     ... Japan, and she's the music part of, of-

121. 0:36:18

     A- a- and you're on the list?

122. 0:36:19

     She's already... Um, she didn't have it right, but it's okay.

123. 0:36:22

     Okay. Could you give me the-

124. 0:36:26

     I'll-

125. 0:36:26

     Mr. Harris, welcome.

126. 0:36:27

     Good afternoon. Thank you, Chairman. Thank you, Senators. Uh, my name is James Harris. I'm a serial entrepreneur. In the early '90s, I built one of the largest internet consulting firms in the country based here in Atlanta with offices in Vail, Colorado, San Francisco, New York. After selling that company in the early 2000s, I became an angel investor and have invested in a number of companies and have been working with different ecosystems within Atlanta to build out more s- better small businesses. Uh, the last year I've been working, uh, with a team at Georgia Tech to create an AI studio.

127. 0:36:59

     Um, one of the realities in Georgia is that we have great resources and great talent in AI, but if you're a small business, you can't just walk into Georgia Tech and use a $60 million computer. And so we've been literally cobbling together donations of equipment to make it available to small business. Uh, State Representative Scofield asked me to speak a month ago to her committee for small business, and I'm coming here today to say I'm in deep support, uh, emphatic support of having this study done on behalf of the state of Georgia. We have in the state of Georgia a rare opportunity to be a leader in this space as we are losing out, uh, as we all know the last couple years to traditional film and television production.

128. 0:37:38

     Uh, as the, the industry moves in this new direction, we have the resources and talent to be a pioneer in this space. And I'll give you two examples. Uh, out of a group that's been hosted at Georgia Tech for the last year or so, uh, three companies have come out of that that are instrumental in the future of AI and filmmaking. One is a company called FilmPro, started by a guy named Alex Lugo. Alex worked at Cash App, believe it or not, as a programmer, but was a filmmaker at heart. He quit his job and built a tool called FilmPro that lets you take a script.

129. 0:38:09

     It reads the script, and in 10 minutes it does roughly three months worth of pre-production work, gives you a movie poster, does images of all your characters, all your set location, the whole nine yards. He's already had investors from California invest in his company, and we wanna keep him here in the state of Georgia. We want that to be anchored in the state of Georgia. One last example is a gentleman by the name of David Turner. Dave is a documentary filmmaker. He jokes that it takes about four years to make a documentary. You gotta spend years getting all the video together, then you have to catalog it, put it together, and then you have to sort of spend a year testing it and building out a story.

130. 0:38:42

     He was so frustrated, he built a tool called StorySense that allows you to load all your video up, and overnight the AI watches all the video, documents it, and catalogs it. The next morning you can go in and say, "This is what I'm thinking," and it gives you your scenes to put together. I jokingly say he's gone from four years to four months. We want that company based here in Georgia. And by having this research done and how it impacts the film and television community, hopefully the state will come in and invest in those kind of small businesses so that the next Apple or the next Adobe is actually birthed here in Georgia.

131. 0:39:15

     Thank you.

132. 0:39:19

     Questions from members of the committee.

133. 0:39:23

     So you, you are, you are of a mind-- Two questions. You're of a mind that more use of AI for creative purposes, more faster is better?

134. 0:39:34

     Yes, sir. I think it's, it's gonna happen, right? Just like, uh, computers made their way into the airline industry, and it, it's gonna happen. We want it to happen t- to benefit our state and to benefit the entrepreneurs that are here versus not being involved in it and it being given to us as a tool or having our talent migrate somewhere else. So I do agree.

135. 0:39:55

     Um, the question you, you raised in my mind about the Georgia Tech technology was the democratizing of AI, the, the ability to get it to others that don't have the resources to, to use it. Um, for the creative processes you described, like the documentary filmmaking, does it take that kind of, um, computing power, or can you use $1,000 software and do that, $1,000 or less software and do that from your desktop?

136. 0:40:23

     That's a great question. Um, in some cases, you can use $1,000 software. Sometimes you can subscribe to Amazon and pay $1,000 a month. But it really would be great to have physical computer and hardware locally in the state of Georgia so that people can go in, I don't know what analogy to give you, like a Kinkos, you know, and just sort of rent the equipment for a day or two and do the-- let the AI do the, the heavy work, and then have a tool that you can then upload to an Amazon. There are also AI tools, uh, there are AI resources where you don't wanna put your code into it and it disappears somewhere into the cloud, California, New York, Europe, or wherever, because you really don't know who's looking at your code once it's out there.

137. 0:41:01

     So there are some companies, healthcare as an example, or people who are doing financial services, they need to have local equipment to actually do the work and then secure it and then put it out to the rest of the world so...

138. 0:41:13

     But doesn't it-- I mean, computing power, though, I mean, it's-- why do you need to be physically located next to computing power? Why couldn't you upload your inputs through an internet, um, connect- through an internet, high-speed internet connection-

139. 0:41:25

     Yeah

140. 0:41:25

     ... let the computing power happen off on some, I, I use the term mainframe. I'm-

141. 0:41:30

     That's fine. Out in the cloud

142. 0:41:31

     ... some, some, some out there where the computing power exists. All the, all the atom smashing happens there, and you download your content. Why do you have to have technology sitting next to you physically?

143. 0:41:40

     Yeah. Great question. Sometimes you need to change the configuration or setup. Like, you need to literally if, if... Imagine a garage, it had heavy computers in it You need to go in and pull some cards out. You need to go literally push the button to restart the machine. You may wanna load software on that you don't want ever exposed to anyone else, because that intellectual property, again, once it's in ChatGPT or Google, you-- God knows where it is. One example, Samsung in Korea was actually letting their programmers in-house use ChatGPT, believe it was ChatGPT. It was one of the main foundational models.

144. 0:42:11

     And three months later, the gentleman was at home asking it a question, and he saw his code in the system that was not supposed to be there. And so a lot of people doing this kind of work really wanna keep what they're writing, what they're creating really close until they can secure it and then make it available to their customers. So sometimes you need to have it. Uh, Representative Scofield actually has a one-pager that we created for their committee that talks about putting many AI labs throughout the state of Georgia. The recommendation from them was actually to put it in libraries, believe it or not, where young people, small businesses can access that technology, use it as a resource, and then once they're ready for the big leagues, put it up on a, a larger computer or, or platform.

145. 0:42:52

     Chair recognizes Senator Wicks for a question.

146. 0:42:55

     Thank you, sir. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, for workforce development, internships, apprenticeships. So I see the concept. So can you tie that all into that?

147. 0:43:08

     A-absolutely. So, um, you know, when people think of AI, they think of the individual sitting in front of the computer screen asking a question or doing a prompt, but the building of those computer systems, the networking, um, uh, all of the universities and colleges in the state of Georgia are actively working to educate people into that space. Uh, Morehouse has a program where they're taking young people and trying to give them internships to actually build these systems. That's just the physical workforce development and training. Then the software part is a whole nother sort of intellectual endeavor of how do you think in sort of a, a AI age, right?

148. 0:43:43

     And so that's also another economic development opportunity. Last thing I'll say is there are creative people in the state that always wanted to make a film who never were able to get a million dollars or $10 million or $5 million, who now for $100 a month or $200 a month can actually tell a story. That is a huge opportunity. And Elizabeth Kealoha, who I think is on the list to speak, will talk about how they're creating, um, they're upskilling and, and, and helping people who traditionally were lights, camera, action move into a tap, tap, tap, talk, and create something that's really, really, uh, meaningful to people all over the, all over the world.

149. 0:44:19

     Thank you.

150. 0:44:21

     Thank you.

151. 0:44:21

     Thanks for being with us.

152. 0:44:22

     Thank you.

153. 0:44:22

     Really appreciate, appreciate being here. Appreciate your, uh, commitment to Georgia. I mean, after having done business in Vail, the fact you didn't just stay there and, uh, and leave us is, is, is noteworthy. Appreciate you.

154. 0:44:31

     Thank you for the opportunity,

155. 0:44:35

     Mr. Chairman.

156. 0:44:35

     Next, uh, up is Mr. Greg Waddell. Greg, welcome.

157. 0:44:42

     Is, is this your first time speaking in a legislative committee or you, you, you an old, old, old reliable-

158. 0:44:46

     Uh-

159. 0:44:46

     ... and been here many times?

160. 0:44:48

     I, I've been around a couple times. Uh, I'm a film technician. I've been here in Georgia for, uh, goodness gracious, since the Super Bowl in 1994 where the Georgia Dome was brand new. Uh, moved to Georgia, moved my family here for the creative economy once the Olympics came here. Uh, came from Missouri. Long story short, uh, I turn wrenches, I climb, and I dive, and, uh, I build things with fun, uh, erector set parts that we make the scaffolding and the, the rock and roll truss work and things that you see the lights and, and cameras attached to.

161. 0:45:22

     Uh, my job title is a grip. I also happen to be, uh, the president of our film unit over Georgia and Alabama's jurisdiction, uh, representing formerly 8,100 workers, uh, now reduced in the past year to 5,800 because of the decline in the film industry, um, through a number of different factors. Uh, I'm also one of the national table negotiators on our contracts that we have with the AMPTP. Quick version of it is I'm very much in favor of learning about this and studying about it more.

162. 0:45:53

     Um, when we have the conversations nationally with, uh, the producers and the studios, they all are scared and interested and concerned and intrigued, uh, and every different emotion you could possibly imagine, that's what they go through. Because on their side of the room, there's 400 or 500 people that are all in competition with each other, and the creative space is a very competitive space. AI gives the capability to expand capability, uh, in ways that were never before imagined.

163. 0:46:24

     And I don't know if you guys have played around with it a little bit at home or not, even on ChatGPT, to try to generate some funny video if you type a sentence and throw in some different prompts and see what happens. Uh, I've, I've experimented with it myself. The, the, uh, national-- the IATSE on a national level has established an AI study committee in cooperation with all the studios because everybody wants to keep communications open because it's a constantly evolving technology. The film industry, uh, labor from the national perspective has always said it's a tool, and it's a tool that we're not gonna jump in the middle of the road from and stop and let run over us.

164. 0:47:06

     And at the same time, we need to learn how to use the new tool. Um, so m- m- y- yes, it costs jobs because it decreases some labor in certain aspects. If you guys ever saw any documentaries about the old "Wizard of Oz" when "The Wizard of Oz" was made, they had these super skilled artists that were called matte artists, M-A-T-T-E artists, and they could paint a, on a, on a wall a painting that you would walk through. It was that real, and they did it with brush and paint. And then as technology evolved, Photoshop and Illustrator and other technologies came around, computer technologies, and it eliminated this, the workflow.

165. 0:47:44

     It changed the workflow of how painters painted mattes. Uh, those that evolved ... has maintained their work in the industry. Those that didn't, didn't stay in the industry because their jobs disappeared. Um, we've already felt an impact on the labor force of, of how this is starting to reduce jobs, especially in the conceptual art space. Um, and, and, uh, it's, it's, it's not a fun thing to embrace when certain people know that it's gonna be a reduction of labor for a career that they've spent 40 years or 30 or 20 or five years of their life building.

166. 0:48:23

     So it's a scary thing for us as labor. It's a scary thing for the studios, um, and, and we're all trying to explore it as well. Uh, and, and so I think any time we can, we can explore something or learn more about it, it's, it's a good thing.

167. 0:48:41

     Any questions from committee members? I know I've got a committee member we're gonna lose here for another committee responsibility. Uh, I got two more people that wanna speak, and we're gonna give you a chance to be heard. Having said that, um, I've got a, I'm gonna ask the pleasure of the committee. I, I do, um, need to ask the chair, or need, need, need to ask the, uh, the author, um...

168. 0:49:07

     Thank you for being with us. Appreciate that.

169. 0:49:09

     Thank, thank you all very much.

170. 0:49:10

     Thank you.

171. 0:49:10

     Um,

172. 0:49:13

     I, um...

173. 0:49:17

     As a, as a study committee, we can have any number of people come speak. Um-

174. 0:49:24

     Thank you.

175. 0:49:25

     I'm more comfortable with a f- a, a study committee with five senators and let the folks from the departments come a- and Georgia Film Academy come and participate, but not as voting members. Um, is the author open to having a study committee move forward with five senators that those others could participate, they could work collaboratively with us, but the official members be five senators w- with a, with a-

176. 0:49:51

     Two

177. 0:49:51

     ... w- with a Democrat and Republican co-chairman? Yeah.

178. 0:49:54

     I, I believe that would be the very best thing, that we have more of, uh, our senators and, uh, look at this and study this and be on this committee to make the decision.

179. 0:50:06

     'Cause I, I know there's a, you know, from, from the standpoint of, uh, we had a AI study committee this summer. We had an AI study committee this summer. This, this, this summer was AI, impact of AI and internet on children. The summer before was an AI study. This is a, so this is the third successive summer we've done this. Um, I think a five-senator committee that other members could particip- could come be part of but are not formal members of is probably more minimal to the Senate.

180. 0:50:35

     Mm-hmm.

181. 0:50:36

     Uh, we'd still be limited to five days. We wouldn't necessarily do five days, but we could do up to five days. Um, is the, is the author open to that? We, we can, we can continue this conversation outside of this meeting if we need to. I just wanted to see if the author was open to such a thing.

182. 0:50:49

     Uh, I'm open to that, yes.

183. 0:50:50

     Okay. Well, I've got a, a amendment, um, I

184. 0:50:59

     guess. Um, I know Senator Echols, um, any, Senator Echols, any, any concerns moving an amendment that creates this and sending it forward to us?

185. 0:51:10

     No, I, I think it's a, uh, a good study committee. Um, but I, I do agree with what the, uh, the chairman said here. Um, on line, uh, 18, uh, after intelligence, add on the creative industries. On, uh, line 19, change eight to five.

186. 0:51:36

     And, and, and Senator, some of the other cleanup language, you can hand that to counsel too if you'd like to.

187. 0:51:40

     Okay.

188. 0:51:41

     Some, some, some, s- those are the details just support the-

189. 0:51:43

     Yeah. Oh, okay. I didn't know if you wanted me to go through it. I know y- y- I, I'm such a legal bright mind that- I would have to use AI to get them to explain this. It caught me off guard, but...

190. 0:51:55

     No, I, and, and I put you on the spot. That was just to, to the authors. I, s- s- since we've got some time constraints, I didn't wanna not be able to take action today.

191. 0:52:02

     No, I, I make a motion do pass as amended.

192. 0:52:05

     Okay.

193. 0:52:05

     I second.

194. 0:52:06

     Okay. So could, could, could you get that and just provide that to counsel, those markups? And again, it's just essentially all the details, just flesh out that idea of going from eight members to five senators and, uh, the, it w- be renaming the committee, um, the Impact of AI on the Creative Arts.

195. 0:52:26

     Okay.

196. 0:52:26

     So it's, it's, it's defined that way, 'cause I think that's, that's, that's what you're trying to accomplish. So we got a motion, got a second. Any more discussion on that? Senator Wicks, you-

197. 0:52:34

     No

198. 0:52:34

     ... no further. I'm gonna, so I'm gonna take a vote on this, and then we'll take the last two testimonies that'll be part of our committee record. But I know I'm gonna lose Senator Echols here in a matter of minutes. So with that, uh, all in favor of sending forward to the Rules Committee with due pass recommendation, raise your right hand. It passes. And, um, thank you. So if you need to run-

199. 0:52:54

     Thank you, Chairman, and thank you, Senator James. I, I hate to have to run, but it's another meeting.

200. 0:52:59

     So, so we're, we're gonna stick around. We've got two more people to speak. I'm just gonna lose him, and when I lose him, we no longer have a quorum. We can't take action. So thank you, Senator Echols, for being with us. So, uh, and, and can you stay, Senator? Thank you. Uh, Chair would like to recognize Elizabeth Kealoha to speak, please.

201. 0:53:17

     Sure.

202. 0:53:17

     Welcome.

203. 0:53:21

     Kealoha and Setzler are very similar. They are easy to pronounce if you read them-

204. 0:53:25

     Cor-- Yes

205. 0:53:26

     ... but people pronounce them wrong all the time.

206. 0:53:27

     That's correct. Thank you.

207. 0:53:28

     So appreciate that.

208. 0:53:29

     Thank you for, um, allowing me the time to speak to you all today. Uh, so Elizabeth K. Aloha. I'm a, uh, founder and CEO of a production company called Miland Pictures, uh, transitioning from, uh, traditional production to AI first production, uh, here in the state. And, um, as well as a co-founder of, uh, a workforce initiative, um, that's disguised as a company called Alterra. Um, Alterra was started last year as the Atlanta International AI Film Festival. Uh, we started building a community around AI filmmakers last year, um, and meet every third Wednesday of every month at ATDC, um, because we wanted a, a location that the filmmakers could actually move from a creator to a startup founder, if so desi-desired.

209. 0:54:19

     Um, and ATDC re-- uh, allows those creatives to do so with the resources available to them. Uh, we've wor-been working with James on the AI makerspace, um, in terms of ensuring that creative technology is now a, uh, represented art form within the AI makerspace, um, and are very excited about the partnerships he has with Georgia Tech and the AI, uh, student-led council there with their GPU cluster. That allows our creatives to come in through, uh, a networking event and a support group, again, our community within Alterra.

210. 0:54:53

     Uh, we also do education workshops, um, not just at ATDC, but around the state, um, in different, uh, school systems. Uh, we've had two up at UGA, um, some at Georgia State, um, and we're looking at others. Um, actually, my partner is down at the Utopian, uh, uh, Academy right now, um, doing some AI teaching with their middle school and high schoolers today. So we are, um... A little background on me before I came to AI, a little over twenty-five years in the film and industry- film and television industry here in Atlanta.

211. 0:55:25

     Built my career here. Uh, started as a set PA on commercials. Uh, graduated into becoming an executive vice president of original programming at Bounce Media and Katz Broadcasting. Uh, between those two things, I helped launch six DigiNet networks, so that is totally, um, advertiser-supported, linear broadcast networks: Bounce, Grit, Escape, Laff, uh, relaunched Court TV, and, um, uh, and then helped EW Scripts when they got here take their newsy program into a, um, into a national, uh, news network.

212. 0:55:59

     What is a linear network? What, what does that mean?

213. 0:56:01

     Broadcast. So when we were young, we had three of them. Uh, so anything that's advertiser-supported, you have commercials. Um, over the past couple of years, obviously the, uh, audience viewership has changed because there's been a democratation-- democratization of distribution, starting with the streaming side, uh, which has changed the business models of the industry tremendously. Um, that is one of the impacts that has been happening to our, uh, film and television industry here, is that we had a spike when streaming was brand new, and they needed a lot of content to attract the audiences.

214. 0:56:39

     So we had a massive spike here in Georgia. Um, that has now plateaued, and now, uh, all of the money is actually being spent mainly in live sporting events. And so that means original programming budgets, uh, scripted specifically, so film and TV projects, have actually diminished. Um, that is one impact, along with other impacts like the strikes and, um, and AI, uh, that have been, um, transitioning, um, and impacting our, uh, industry.

215. 0:57:10

     Uh, what we're hoping to do is with this, um, now that you've passed it, thank you, um, uh, learn a little bit more and educate people, um, both creators and business owners and government, the benefits of actually having our creators, the innovators, the ideologists, the storytellers, um, educate themselves, uh, increase their knowledge about how these tools work, what the technology actually can do for and with them, um, and kind of have a mindset shi-mindset shift of how to create new content because it's not necessarily IP content-driven anymore.

216. 0:57:50

     That, um, uh, unfortunately, this technology has driven the cost of production down, which means the gates are open. The distribution had already gone through that, um, transition. And so now the new, the new, uh, transition really is how do we empower our creatives, leveraging these tools to get in front of their communities and create sustainable careers for themselves without having to leave? And so that's why I'm really excited about the outcomes of this, um, study.

217. 0:58:24

     Thanks for your time. Um, I, um... What is the period of entry technologically to be able to put together a thirty-minute or one-hour, um, consumer quality? May I say cons-consumer quality, something you could sell to somebody-

218. 0:58:43

     Oh

219. 0:58:43

     ... and rep, not, not a, "Hey, this is a cool school project," but I mean, something that would be perceived as being a product on a streaming service or that, that people would be willing to pay for. What's the technology, um, cost of entry to do that? What's, what's the size of computer? What's the software? Uh, I, I mean, so often it just comes down to this software system can do it. Um, describe that to us.

220. 0:59:07

     So, uh, it's very nuanced. Um, first you wanna talk about the distribution platform, and what I would say is, uh, we're not necessarily competing against the large distributors right now, Netflix on the streaming side or theatrical, uh, because the technology still breaks at certain points. Um, it's getting better, and it's getting better fast, so I can't tell you how- It's gonna be until we get to the one-to-one. But what I can tell you is, uh, we actually need to be looking at mobile a lot more.

221. 0:59:40

     That's where most of the viewership happens now, and it's growing and growing faster and faster. And so it's a little bit more of a, a discoverability issue. That's the last kind of leg before we have full, um, creator to audience pipeline. So to answer your question-

222. 0:59:58

     For, for, for example, if I wanted to create an AI version of Downton Abbey. I mean, the last-

223. 1:00:03

     Mm-hmm

224. 1:00:04

     ... TV series I was really had any commitment to-

225. 1:00:07

     Sure

226. 1:00:07

     ... was Downton Abbey. I, I will confess that. Um, but I, I've, I have, I have daughters and a wife that was-- they're quite into it, and I, I, I got hooked in. Not, not a full-length feature, but still in terms of production quality, cinematography, by every standard, a very, uh, really, I think a top quality production. You know, one hour long, you know, minus some commercials. To produce that ca- that caliber of product using AI-

227. 1:00:31

     Mm-hmm

228. 1:00:33

     ... um, is it a $4,000 laptop and a $1,000 piece of software, or is it a, a, a much more substantial computer system and $50,000 piece of software? What does that look like?

229. 1:00:44

     I, I would actually say that the investment is in the people, not the technology at that point.

230. 1:00:51

     Okay.

231. 1:00:51

     There are, um, cloud-based open source. There's all kinds of tools that are out there that we can leverage right now. Um, we're-- My company is currently creating for a, um, a large corporate client, um, cinematic mini features that are leveraging some of their leadership team, um, where they per- or might have... First of all, they would have never done this, so it's new content for them.

232. 1:01:22

     Uh, second of all, we're using the name, image, and likeness of these folks so that they never actually have to show up to a shoot. So they, they love it. Um-

233. 1:01:34

     So, so, so you're saying to take a, take a C-suite, a Fortune 50 C-suite team-

234. 1:01:39

     Mm-hmm

235. 1:01:40

     ... and capture them doing their job and make like a series-

236. 1:01:44

     Capture, putting them-

237. 1:01:45

     ... featuring it, make, make an action show about their, about Goldman Sachs or whatever their-

238. 1:01:50

     Sure

239. 1:01:50

     ... that's, yeah.

240. 1:01:50

     But it's not. It, it's space. It's underwater. It's like creating a-- putting them in ancient, you know, times. It's creating mini films that the c- the companies are actually enjoying, and it's not consumer-facing yet.

241. 1:02:05

     Okay.

242. 1:02:05

     Right? Um, so to answer your question, the tools exist right now. It's more about the investment in the storytellers, and it's not just the writer or the creator. It's the, uh, it's the editors. It's the music. It's all-- Most of the post, um, still retains its value. And actually, what the tools do, it allows them to do more with less and have more clients. Because what's happening right now is we don't have a workforce that's trained up to handle the corporate clients.

243. 1:02:41

     And so for my company, what we're doing is we're-- For the, uh, Altera, what we're doing is training up our, um, talent here so that we can, on my, um, company side, hire them, right? Um, what I'm finding on this job is we have this particular job. We have had to go out of state for, uh, talent in the beginning just to find out that they have actually hired two of the people that have come through some of the workshops that we've done.

244. 1:03:11

     And so we're turning over a lot of AI artists because they're coming in saying, "We're an AI artist." But when we put them into the work pipeline, they're actually not producing at the level we need, and we're realizing that there's just a, a gap in education. So we're training them up at the same time.

245. 1:03:29

     So one last question for you. So if, if Steven Spielberg had been born in 1998 instead of 1948 and was using AI instead of producing, you know, um, E.T. and things by hanging, hanging spaceships and all the things they did in their cinematography. If, if that was the-- If, if you've got someone with that kind of talent, who's got all the, the, the storytelling ability, but wielding these tools. Can someone that's a, a, a, a top level, top sort of a best-in-class level person, is this something that an individual could take using the tools by themselves and produce a feature-length film, or is it still a five or ten person effort to do it?

246. 1:04:10

     Uh, there are artists right now that are single pe- folks that can do this on their own. Uh, it takes a long time, and it takes a very particular type of person to do that.

247. 1:04:19

     Okay.

248. 1:04:20

     Um, it really requires a team still, and I don't think that anybody in the creative field will ever want to work alone. I mean, one of the things that we do in our monthly meetups, there are 40 to 60 people that attend mainly because they don't wanna work alone, and they're coming there to build their community.

249. 1:04:41

     Do what they do best. Sure.

250. 1:04:42

     Yeah.

251. 1:04:43

     Thank you for being with us-

252. 1:04:43

     Thank you

253. 1:04:43

     ... very much. Appreciate you. Last speaker, uh, Ms. Yuko Endo. Welcome.

254. 1:04:54

     What's that?

255. 1:04:55

     Is photography allowed?

256. 1:04:56

     Uh, you just, yeah, just stay off the side will be fine. Yeah. Yeah.

257. 1:05:00

     Thank you so much being here, and I appreciate having me here. So this is first time. I'm not used to like this, but I try to speak. And, um, I am the, uh, record company artist in Japan and here too. So, um, I s- I sell the sixth album in Japan. I'm still artist. Also, I'm doing the writer and, uh, beat making, like producing too. So I'm not really good English speaker.

258. 1:05:33

     That's why I'm gonna tell the short. So AI is, uh, sometimes good Helping. But sometimes too much natural, unnatural. So I'm doing the production stuff. So many, I got a, I found a plugin, then, oh, this is so easy with the AI. Then I try to make it, but I can't feel like a, um, un- unnatural sometimes.

259. 1:06:05

     But sometimes really good. Oh, you make it like this. So that's why we important, we important good relationship with the AI. So that's why Japan too, Japanese young era people is a really good relationship. They make the nickname to the ChatGPT, we call it Chappy. So they're always asking everything, question, and, uh, fortune, and, uh, all, all the creative SNS posting stuff, everything.

260. 1:06:37

     They're so learning fast, so they're doing. But our artists need a copyright saving. That's the most important part.

261. 1:06:49

     Mm-hmm.

262. 1:06:49

     So we, we have to good relationship with the AI, but have to also have to protect, protect the copyright part. So that's my feel like this. Thank you.

263. 1:07:04

     Thank you. Questions?

264. 1:07:07

     Okay.

265. 1:07:07

     Ms. Endo, thank you for being with us very much.

266. 1:07:09

     Thank you so much.

267. 1:07:10

     Um, so appreciate everyone that came to speak today. I know there's some industry folks that are kinda watching and staying quiet, but, um- ... we've gotten action on this today. It's, it's, uh, this does not create the study committee. It would still need to go forward to the floor of the Senate and be voted on to create it formally, but this is the, the sort of the first big step in the process. So appreciate you being with us today. We stand adjourned.

268. 1:07:31

     Thank you