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ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Fifty-Sixth Legislature, Second Regular Session
artificial intelligence use; aggravating circumstance
Purpose
Adds the use, threatened use or possession of artificial intelligence as an aggravating circumstance for sentencing determinations.
Background
A sentence of imprisonment for a felony must be a definite term of years and the person sentenced must be committed to the custody of the Arizona State Department of Corrections. For the purpose of determining a sentence, the trier of fact must determine and the court must consider aggravating and mitigating circumstances, as outlined in statute. There are 27 aggravating circumstances, including the use, threatened use or possession of a deadly weapon or dangerous instrument during the commission of the crime, except if this circumstance is an essential element of the offense of conviction or has been used to enhance the range of punishment, and any other factor that the state alleges is relevant to the defendant's character or background or to the nature or circumstances of the crime (A.R.S. § 13-701).
According to the National Artificial Intelligence Act of 2020, artificial intelligence is a machine-based system that can, for a given set of human-defined objectives, make predictions, recommendations or decisions influencing real or virtual environments (15 U.S.C. § 9401).
There is no anticipated fiscal impact to the state General Fund associated with this legislation.
Provisions
1. Establishes, as an aggravating circumstance, whether the defendant committed the offense using artificial intelligence.
2. Includes artificial intelligence as a deadly weapon or a dangerous instrument that is used, threatened to be used or possessed during the commission of the crime, and considered an aggravating circumstance for sentencing determinations.
3. Makes technical and conforming changes.
4. Becomes effective on the general effective date.
Prepared by Senate Research
February 8, 2024
KJA/sdr