Ag privacy bill amended to include AI protections, advanced

A measure aimed at creating comprehensive privacy protections for Nebraska agricultural data was amended to include regulation of conversational artificial intelligence before clearing first-round debate March 24.

LB525, introduced by North Platte Sen. Mike Jacobson on behalf of Gov. Jim Pillen, would require controllers and potential controllers of agricultural data to enter into written consent agreements with ag producers before providing, using or selling that data.

Jacobson offered an amendment to the Banking, Commerce and Insurance Committee amendment, adopted 34-0, to make minor technical revisions to the bill and add the provisions of another measure heard by the committee this session.

As amended, LB525 would establish that an agricultural producer is the sole controller of any agronomic, climate, weather, land, livestock, management or sustainability data that is reasonably linked to that producer and is not aggregated, derived or otherwise available to the general public.

It also would prohibit the sale of an agricultural producer’s raw data by anyone other than the producer who controls or processes that data, and require any controller or processor in possession of such data to establish, implement and maintain reasonable security practices to protect the information.

Jacobson said the question of who owns agricultural data is a “massive gray area” in state law that LB525 is a first step toward clarifying. He added that Nebraska would be the first state in the country to pass this type of legislation, so senators should view the proposal as a starting point.

Under the bill, starting Jan. 1, 2027, every new contract or agreement involving the collection or processing of agricultural data in Nebraska must include a specific provision that prohibits the selling of that data unless the producer has given express written consent.

Any contract entered into after that date that waives or limits the requirements of the bill would be void and unenforceable. The state attorney general could bring an action for violations to either seek injunctive relief or a civil penalty of $1,000 per violation.

Also included in the Jacobson amendment are the provisions of LB1185, sponsored by Sen. Eliot Bostar of Lincoln, which would adopt the Conversational Artificial Intelligence Safety Act.

Bostar said minors can easily become confused about whether they are in conversation with a chatbot or an actual human being, leading to exposure to adult content or emotional reliance on technology that was not created to act in their best interests.

“Conversational AI tools are increasingly designed to simulate human conversation in ways that can feel personal, emotional and real,” Bostar said. “For minors, those design features can create real risks.”

LB1185 would require disclosure when a user reasonably could believe that they are interacting with a human being and would add additional safeguards for minor account holders, including:
• recurring AI disclaimers;
• limits on engagement-based rewards; and
• deployment of reasonable measures to prevent sexually explicit or sexualizing content and to prevent the system from presenting itself as human or fostering emotional or romantic dependence.

The bill also would require a protocol to respond to prompts involving suicidal ideation or self-harm that includes referral to crisis services, and would prohibit a service from claiming to be designed to provide professional mental or behavioral health care.

The attorney general would be empowered to enforce the bill’s provisions through civil action.

Whitman Sen. Tanya Storer spoke in support of Bostar’s proposal.

“Anything that we can continue to do to protect minors online is important and I will champion that in every corner,” she said.

Following adoption of a technical amendment, senators advanced LB525 to select file 35-0.