State Rep. Parker Moore brought fellow members of a national AI policy task force to Huntsville this week to showcase North Alabama’s growing role in artificial intelligence and emerging technology.

Moore (R-Hartselle), who serves on the Future Caucus National Task Force on State AI Policy, hosted his fellow task force members for a three-day visit that included stops at the Alabama School of Cyber Technology and Engineering, HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, the FBI’s Kinetic Cyber Range and U.S. Army Materiel Command at Redstone Arsenal.

“I was successfully able to bring them here to Huntsville to showcase everything that we have to offer in our area, in the Tennessee Valley, and kind of what opportunities are out there and what all we’re doing with AI here in our area,” Moore told 256 Today.

The National Task Force on State AI Policy is a 12-member group of state lawmakers convened by Future Caucus, a nonpartisan organization focused on younger elected leaders. The group includes six Republicans and six Democrats and was formed to help lawmakers navigate AI policy across the states.

Moore said nearly the entire task force attended the Huntsville visit.

“They were extremely impressed with not only everything that we had to offer here and everything that’s going on, because they weren’t aware, but Alabama in general,” Moore said. “It was not what they had envisioned.”

Moore said Huntsville was a natural place for the task force to see the range of ways AI is being used.

“With everything that we’ve got going here with FBI, with all of our defense contracting, within the energy sector, within even HudsonAlpha and the biotech field, and with Eli Lilly coming in, bringing the AI realm with pharmaceuticals, there’s just a whole plethora of opportunities to examine here in our area,” he said.

The lawmakers also met with Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle and members of the city’s AI group to discuss the work underway locally.

Moore said members found ideas throughout the visit that could be taken back to their own states, including ASCTE’s approach to cyber technology and engineering education and research underway at HudsonAlpha.

“I think it allowed us to really showcase and to show that we are a model for what other states can learn from,” Moore said. “The legislative colleagues that came in all took away different pieces of what we are doing that they want to try to replicate in their states, from education to industry to even how they’re working their budgets through government and AI, and even research and workforce development through AI policy.”

He said visiting lawmakers were also interested in the cooperation among federal, state and local leaders in North Alabama.

“I think we’re fortunate in our area because, by indication of their response, that does not take place everywhere,” Moore said. “They were really wondering how they can try to work on that collaboration as well in their respective states.”

The visit also ties into Moore’s work on AI legislation in Alabama. In February, Moore told 256 Today that several of his AI bills were being held while lawmakers worked toward consistent definitions and a broader approach.

Moore said his work with the national task force, along with his role on Alabama’s AI Policy and Children’s Advocacy Task Force, is helping inform that effort.

“I think that being on both of those has been extremely valuable because I’ve been able to bring a different perspective to our state policy task force because I’ve had the experience, the opportunity to engage in that dialogue with colleagues from around the country on this issue too,” he said.

A major focus, Moore said, is establishing clear definitions for AI and its various applications without making those definitions so narrow that legislation quickly becomes outdated as the technology evolves.

“We want to be more proactive instead of reactive,” Moore said. “We want to make sure that these definitions are worded correctly and that they are somewhat open-ended.”

Moore said the national task force will hold two more meetings over the next two months before releasing its report in December.

Got a tip for OTR? Send your tip to [email protected] with related photo/video, your name, phone number, and e-mail address.