FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — Fulton County Commissioners Dana Barrett and Marvin Arrington Jr. argued over the use of artificial intelligence and generative AI tools in the leadup to Wednesday’s commission meeting.
Barrett sent a release out Tuesday night saying that four items on the commission agenda were drafted fully or partially using AI tools.
Three of those ordinances were filed by Arrington, and a fourth was filed by Commissioner Bob Ellis.
At the actual meeting, commissioners mostly stayed on policy, though some remarks alluding to the disagreement and AI-focused back-and-forth bled into the discussion.
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At the meeting, Arrington briefly brought up the disagreement during a discussion of jail diversion programs.
The ordinances allegedly written with AI fully or partly included:
- Revisions to the Code of Ethics, introduced by Ellis
- Food Resilience, introduced by Arrington
- Public Comment Policy, introduced by Arrington
- Dissolution of Ethics Board and Change of Ethics Procedure, introduced by Arrington
“Voters did not elect AI to represent them. They elected people,” Barret said in a statement. “Using AI to write legislation that affects people’s lives is not just lazy, it’s dangerous. Allowing AI to dictate the Fulton County ethics code and procedures is especially egregious.”
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Barrett said in her statement that she used an AI detection tool called GPTZero, from an AI startup, to examine each of the proposals.
The fact that the detector Barrett used is built with an AI itself was among the comments pushing back sent out in a release from Arrington responding to Barrett.
“Commissioner Barrett’s accusation mistakes a software-generated probability for proof and attempts to divert attention from the substance of the legislation before the Board,” Arrington said in his statement. “Commissioner Barrett used artificial intelligence to accuse others of using artificial intelligence. Imagine that. If that is not the pot calling the kettle black, I do not know what is.”
Arrington also said that he was “shocked” that Barrett did not contact him with a message or even “the professional courtesy of a telephone call before publicly declaring that my work was ”100% AI.”
The commissioner said that had Barrett spoken to him beforehand, he would have discussed how the resolutions were developed, what policy objectives he had and more about responsible ways to use technology like AI in public service.
He said that the policies he created with the assistance of AI were also circulated to county staff for review and input and called Barrett’s pre-meeting statements a “cheap political shot.”
A portion of Ellis’ extensive commentary on the topic, shared with Channel 2 Action News, mostly focused on the actual resolution he’d introduced.
In response to Barrett’s claims of his AI usage, Ellis said he uses “technology tools to research my ideas and thoughts and to refine and edit my thoughts just like authors use editing tools. For this resolution and all resolutions I put forward, I also have my work reviewed by our County Attorney’s office for accuracy and legal appropriateness.”
Ellis also mentioned that when the actual ethics policy was discussed at the meeting on Wednesday, Barrett raised no concerns about its content.
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