Jae Wan Ahn, Penn State’s first-ever Pennsylvania Legislative Science and Technology Policy Fellow, contributed to a latest Pennsylvania Joint State Government Commission report on the evolution of synthetic intelligence and the associated purposes, policy suggestions and regulatory issues throughout key sectors. Credit: Provided by Jae Wan Ahn.
Penn State fellow and researchers contribute to main Pennsylvania AI policy report
Mar 31, 2026
By Sarah Small
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State specialists are serving to to shape the future of synthetic intelligence (AI) policy in Pennsylvania. Several researchers and college students contributed to a latest Pennsylvania Joint State Government Commission (JSGC) report on the evolution of synthetic intelligence and the associated purposes, policy suggestions and regulatory issues throughout key sectors.
The report, which was commissioned by the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and launched by the JSGC on Jan. 28, is meant to function a useful resource for sector leaders throughout the commonwealth, serving to them higher perceive the advanced advantages and dangers of AI and contemplate actions Pennsylvania might take in the quickly altering AI panorama.
In addition to contributions from a number of college members, Penn State’s first Pennsylvania Legislative Science and Technology Policy Fellow, Jae Wan Ahn, contributed to the report. In this Q&A, Ahn mentioned the report, his contributions and what he sees as the future of AI in the commonwealth.
Q: You contributed to this report as Penn State’s first-ever Pennsylvania Legislative Science and Technology Policy Fellow, which is run by way of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Science and Technology Policy (COPA-STEP) Program in the Law, Policy, and Engineering Initiative (LPE) at Penn State. What are the objectives and function of this fellowship? In your position as fellow, how did you particularly contribute to the report?
Ahn: The function of COPA-STEP’s Pennsylvania Legislative Science and Technology Policy Fellowship is to assist evidence-based policymaking in our state. Science and know-how have turn into amazingly advanced. I like quoting Arthur C. Clarke, who was a British sci-fi author. He stated that any sufficiently superior know-how is indistinguishable from magic. Complexity of trendy science is such that even scientists generally have a tough time maintaining observe of all the information. So, we will’t anticipate our legislators to maintain up with all of it.
To assist the Pennsylvania General Assembly with science- and technology-related policy points, COPA-STEP fellows deliver scientific experience and analysis abilities. Fellows are positioned in legislative service businesses, like the JSGC, and legislative committees to offer expanded analysis capability for policymakers to work from. As a fellow, I used my analysis abilities in addition to my potential to translate educational supplies to put in writing on technical subjects that the common public could also be unfamiliar with.
Q: What have been the key findings and suggestions of the report? What benefits and considerations did the report determine, and the way does it suggest to implement AI throughout sectors whereas addressing its dangers?
Ahn: The report covers greater than 20 completely different subjects starting from regulation in different states to methods for shielding knowledge privateness to sector-specific makes use of of AI. I like to recommend that policymakers and Pennsylvanians give attention to chapters related to them first. This was a joint effort between JSGC employees, together with me and the advisory committee. The advisory committee was composed of representatives from numerous fields. As JSGC employees and I carried out analysis and drafted the report, the advisory committee reviewed every half to make sure the accuracy and timeliness. Finally, the advisory committee chosen and authorised the closing checklist of suggestions that instantly handle the factors we raised.
There is one takeaway that the majority chapters emphasised: While generative AI (GenAI) instruments have a lot potential for lowering workload, they need to complement and never supplant human oversight. This level is not only about addressing the concern of AI changing human staff. Rather, it’s about recognizing that GenAI fashions have gotten too advanced for us to totally perceive and that their solutions might be inaccurate or biased.
The advisory committee made many suggestions throughout numerous subjects. It is necessary to know that choices from Harrisburg and Washington, D.C., fairly than Silicon Valley will decide how AI reshapes our world. However, as a result of AI instruments are so new, we don’t but have the templates for insurance policies that work. So, the advisory committee’s first suggestion is for the state to revisit and revise any laws on AI as circumstances change. The second is to create a everlasting fee with all vital technical experience to information policy choices. The first two suggestions would allow Pennsylvania to set the benchmark for good insurance policies that different states can emulate. The third is to reinforce transparency, accountability and knowledge assortment capability amongst related trade gamers. This might be one thing as in-depth as requiring AI builders to conduct algorithmic audits yearly or so simple as requiring Pennsylvania employers to report once they use AI for jobs historically dealt with by people.
To add a private word, I might additionally stress that preparation and enough funding are essential. I consider Pennsylvania’s 2,600 municipalities ought to shore up cybersecurity earlier than introducing AI instruments. The state ought to make investments in AI literacy and media literacy efforts focusing on the common public, in addition to college students from Ok-12 by way of college. Penn State has taken a primary step in this space, by launching its personal AI Transformation initiative. A group is simply as sturdy as its members, and, in my opinion, a extra systematic, centralized policy to speculate in AI literacy and encourage interdisciplinary analysis ought to profit all Penn Staters.
Q: Based on the report, what do you assume the future of AI appear like in Pennsylvania?
Ahn: As AI turns into extra frequent, a quantity of issues in our lives will change. Firstly, our work will change. Farmers can use AI to shortly analyze climate patterns and plan for planting and harvesting at optimum occasions. Researchers can have AI instruments full routine duties like sorting by way of and cleansing knowledge. Secondly, what we train our kids will change. We will want to show future generations to make use of AI successfully whereas sustaining important considering abilities. Thirdly, how we handle the land and sources will change. Current AI fashions require a big quantity of knowledge facilities, which in flip require an unprecedented quantity of vitality and water, and digital tools typically has a brief lifespan. That leaves us with a query: How will we maximize the constructive influence of AI whereas replenishing sources and limiting air pollution from electrical energy era? In my opinion, no state has but figured that out. But this report ought to present Pennsylvania with a toolkit of info and suggestions for methods to transfer ahead with this shortly evolving know-how.
Additional experience from Penn State
In addition to Ahn, Penn State had a number of representatives on the advisory committee, together with Mehrdad Mahdavi, affiliate professor of laptop science and engineering in the College of Engineering and director of the Penn State AI Hub; Soundar R. Kumara, Allen E. Pearce and Allen M. Pearce Professor in the Harold and Inge Marcus Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering in the College of Engineering and director of the Center for Applications of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to Industry; Jeremy Blum, chair and affiliate professor of arithmetic and laptop science at Penn State Harrisburg; and Mary E. Ogidigben, doctoral candidate in the Laboratory for Intelligent Systems and Analytics in the College of Engineering.
The report additionally attracts on analysis by Kelley Cotter in the College of Information Sciences and Technology (IST), whose work on AI algorithms and AI literacy highlights the rising social impacts of synthetic intelligence. The report cited further analysis by Sarah Rajtmajer and Jonathan Dodge, additionally in IST, on the complexities of human-computer interactions and the limits and potentialities of algorithmic accountability, respectively.
The growth of the COPA-STEP program comes from the interdisciplinary work of Christine Kirchhoff, affiliate professor of civil and environmental engineering and director of LPE, and Stefan Peterson, COPA-STEP director. LPE is housed in the School of Engineering Design and Innovation in the College of Engineering. The inaugural fellow of the Pennsylvania Legislative Science and Technology Policy Fellowship was made doable because of the assist of the National Conference of State Legislatures, Penn State’s College of Information Sciences and Technology, Penn State’s Law, Policy, and Engineering Initiative, and the Henry L. Hillman Foundation.