Moray councillors will be asked to back plans to deal with the risks and embrace the benefits of artificial intelligence.
SNP councillors Graham Leadbitter and Scott Lawrence will ask that the “emergency issue” is considered this week.
They want to know what threats and opportunities the technology may have on the local authority’s services.
And identify any skills gaps in the workforce.
Existential threat to humanity
The pair are also for strategies to be developed to deal with artificial intelligence (AI) and an estimated time scale of how long it will take to do that work.
On top of that they want to know what the consequences will be if the council does not address the issue.
Benefits of AI include dealing with mundane and monotonous tasks such as data analysis.
And the technology can assist with medical diagnosis.
However, it could pose an existential threat to humanity.
Last year 350 executives, researchers and engineers working in the sector put their name to an open letter warning of the potential risks of AI.
They felt it was as great a threat to human life as a pandemic or nuclear war.
There are also concerns large language models, used by chatbots such as ChatGPT, can spread misinformation and propaganda.
‘Emergency issue’
In their motion the councillors said: “It is widely reported that the pace of development of AI is highly likely to be the most rapidly evolving technology ever seen by humankind with many potential applications – both positive and negative.
“AI is better understood in some industries than others.
“And it is vital that the public sector, including local government is embracing and understanding this issue.
The notice of motion will go before a meeting of the full council on Wednesday.
If approved a report will come back to councillors for their consideration.
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