We can't fix what we don't measure. 

I am a strong proponent of technological innovation, but everything has its limits. Artificial intelligence is rapidly changing our economy and society. When a technology is so powerful, unpredictable, and widespread, it is unquestionable that the state has a duty to protect the people.

I have spoken with many state legislators, and I am concerned about their lack of knowledge and initiative on this issue. When I ask, “What committees are going to regulate AI?” the two most common answers I receive are, “I don’t know,” and, “Maybe Communications and Technology?”

For such a transformative technology with serious long-tail risks for our economy, this is completely unacceptable. Our state can’t mitigate AI’s potential dangers if we’re not monitoring what’s happening and being proactive. That’s why I propose creating a Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence.

1) Why a Select Committee

Which committee in Lansing handles artificial intelligence? The honest answer: all of them, and none of them.
 

AI already touches how insurers decide claims, how employers screen applicants, how hospitals schedule care, and how retailers set prices. Michigan’s committee system divides the world by subject: insurance goes to one committee, labor to another, commerce to a third. AI doesn’t respect those lines. One AI safety bill introduced last session has already moved through three different House committees.¹ The House Communications and Technology Committee handles some AI bills, but its jurisdiction stops where insurance, labor, and commerce begin. When an issue belongs to every committee, it belongs to none of them.
 

A select committee solves that problem. The House creates it for a single purpose, gives it jurisdiction across subject lines, and dissolves it when the work is done. Michigan has used this tool before, and it works. In 2019, the House created the Select Committee on Reducing Car Insurance Rates with one job: lower the highest auto insurance premiums in the country. The Senate’s reform bill went through that committee and became law the same year.² In 2016, a joint select committee of four Republicans and two Democrats took testimony from more than 60 witnesses on the Flint water crisis and produced 36 legislative proposals to prevent another one.³
 

I propose a bipartisan House Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence, with the primary goal of measuring AI’s impact on Michigan. No committee in Lansing currently has the task of tracking where AI is changing Michigan’s economy, so the select committee would track it on two fronts.

The first is Michigan workers. The committee would measure where employers are adopting AI and which jobs it is replacing or reshaping, broken down by industry, region, and age group. To get reliable numbers, Michigan should require employers that file layoff notices with the state to report whether AI or automation played a role.
 

The second is Michigan consumers. The committee would examine how businesses use AI to make decisions about the people they serve: how insurers decide claims, how landlords and lenders screen applicants, and how retailers set prices. It would draw on the consumer complaints that the Attorney General and the Department of Insurance and Financial Services already receive, and take testimony from businesses, workers, and consumers across the state.
 

The committee would deliver its findings in a report on AI’s impact on Michigan’s economy by the end of the 2027 session. If the work remains unfinished, the next Legislature can renew it. Good policy starts with good information, and right now Lansing is legislating without it.

2) Where the Jobs Go

Which Michigan jobs will AI eliminate? Anyone who claims to know for certain is guessing. That is why the committee’s first track focuses on workers.
 

The early national evidence points to white-collar work. Customer service representatives, bookkeepers, paralegals, translators, and entry-level programmers all perform tasks that AI tools can now complete in seconds. Researchers at Stanford found that employment for workers aged 22 to 25 in the most AI-exposed occupations has fallen about 13 percent relative to their less-exposed peers.⁴ The workers losing ground first are the ones just starting their careers.
 

But national averages don’t tell us where Michigan stands. Our economy runs on engineering, manufacturing, health care, and professional services in proportions no other state shares. The committee would find out where the impact actually lands in our state: which industries, which regions, which age groups. Only then can the Legislature target help where it’s needed instead of spreading it thin based on guesswork. You cannot retrain a workforce for a disruption you haven’t measured.
 

AI will reshape Michigan’s economy whether Lansing pays attention or not. The only question is whether the Legislature sees the change coming or reads about it after the fact. A select committee gives Michigan the tools to watch, measure, and act before the damage spreads, not after.

1

Michigan Legislature, House Bill 4668 of 2025, bill history (referred to the Committees on Judiciary, Regulatory Reform, and Communications and Technology). https://www.legislature.mi.gov/Bills/Bill?ObjectName=2025-HB-4668

2

Michigan Legislature, Senate Bill 1 of 2019 (Public Act 21 of 2019), bill history. https://legislature.mi.gov/Bills/Bill?ObjectName=2019-SB-0001

3

Associated Press, "Flint Water Crisis Panel Calls for New Emergency Management Rules," October 2016; WJRT, "Flint water panel calls for new emergency management rules, more changes," October 19, 2016. https://www.abc12.com/news/flint-water-emergency/flint-water-panel-calls-for-new-emergency-management-rules-more-changes/article_a747d931-4d42-5775-8560-310522e2ffd7.html

4

Erik Brynjolfsson, Bharat Chandar, and Ruyu Chen, "Canaries in the Coal Mine? Six Facts about the Recent Employment Effects of Artificial Intelligence," Stanford Digital Economy Lab, August 2025. https://digitaleconomy.stanford.edu/publications/canaries-in-the-coal-mine/