A House lawmaker filed legislation to prevent artificial intelligence from having the same rights as humans in Oklahoma.

Representative Cody Maynard, R-Durant, proposed multiple bills aiming to regulate AI, including House Bill 3546 which would prohibit the technology from having personhood status.

“AI is a man-made tool and it should not have any more rights than a hammer would,” he said. “We’re starting to see stories of people trying to marry AI companions. There’s a lot of confusion going on where people are asking, do these systems rise to the level of sentience?”

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Maynard said he wanted to “get ahead of the game” with this legislation and ensure that businesses cannot shift blame for any unlawful actions onto AI to escape punishment.

As an example, he said companies using AI in self-driving cars in cities around the U.S. could potentially shift the blame for a car wreck onto the technology rather than taking responsibility.

“I thought it was just critical that we need to get out in front and just go ahead and say it’s not a person, and therefore, companies can’t shift off any accidents onto the AI,” Maynard said.

He said he’s also heard stories about minors who either committed suicide or self-harmed after talking with AI chatbots and this legislation would ensure that companies would be held responsible for whatever the artificial intelligence said to the child.

Similar legislation to prohibit AI from reaching personhood status has passed or been proposed in other states, including Idaho, Utah, Washington, South Carolina and Missouri.

Maynard also has a bill specifically focused on regulating how AI chatbots can interact with minors.

While Maynard said the goal of his legislation was not originally to address AI copyright issues, he said it could potentially hold companies liable if AI plagiarizes or uses copyrighted work without permission.

He said he’s talked with other lawmakers and most agree that there need to be “realistic and reasonable” safeguards for AI.

“The question is always, what does that mean and what do we think is reasonable,” Maynard said. “So we’ll find out as we kind of move through session. These are starting spots, they’re not end points. … We need to be talking about it, and hopefully we can come up with agreed solutions that will help everyone in our state.”