WILLIAMSON COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT
GEORGETOWN – Concerns and debate about Williamson County purchasing an AI license and buying land before determining if it’s viable for a future jail complex took center stage at Commissioners Court this past week.
The purchase of ChatGPT, a generative artificial-intelligence program, for the use of county employees came under fire during the July 15 Williamson County Commissioners Court meeting by former engineer Richard Lutowski of Georgetown.
Commissioners, however, ultimately approved the purchase.
Meanwhile, County Judge Steven Snell questioned why the county would buy land first and then decide later if the parcel is a good fit for a future justice-center complex, instead of the other way around.
During the public commentary portion of the meeting, Lutowski argued against the county paying $70,000 for 150 ChatGPT Enterprise licenses.
“What does the county intend to do with the technology?” Lutowski said.
Lutowski said he worked with artificial intelligence in the 1980s.
“This isn’t new, but it has very significant technological and safety issues,” he said.
Precinct 2 Commissioner Cynthia Long asked Richard Semple, chief information officer for Williamson County Technological Services, to explain some of the new program’s uses.
Snell also asked Semple to specifically
address what the Enterprise licenses will do for the county and if the county is protected from some of the concerns residents might have.
Semple said the data remains the property of the county and not the licensing agency.
“We’re able to have total control over anything that’s input or output from that system,” Semple said.
He added there are certain “caveats and cautions” regarding the program.
“Folks will receive training on the system and how to safely use these tools and not fall into some of the pitfalls that potentially exist,” he said.
Primarily, the ChatGPT Enterprise licenses will be used by the county information technology department, but other county employees may employ them for limited functions to improve or make job processes more efficient.
Precinct 3 Commissioner Valerie Covey said some people might be concerned about hackers stealing information, but Semple said nothing confidential would be connected to the system.
Ample safeguards would be in place, he added.
The commissioners OK’d the purchase of the ChatGPT Enterprise licenses.
In other business, Covey wanted fellow commissioners to approve purchasing more than 400 acres to determine if it would be a good site to build a new Williamson County Justice and Jail Complex.
Covey said once the property is under contract, the county could do “a more detailed dive” assessing the habitat, environmental issues and getting a better look at utilities and their potential cost.
An affirmative vote did not mean the site would someday house the jail, she added.
“Today is not a decision of (whether) this is going to be the property… It’s actually just this next step so that we can do our due diligence,” Covey said.
Snell said the Sheriff’s Office had concerns about the viability of the plot and added he didn’t think it wise to move forward on a contract for land if they weren’t 100% certain it was right for the jail complex.
Covey’s proposal was rejected, but the visibly frustrated commissioner and Snell continued to disagree about the matter after the vote.
Long suggested they move forward and further discussion was tabled.
In addition, the court considered an item stemming from the devastating July 5 floods and waived surcharges and extra fees associated with landfill use for the hard-hit Liberty Hill community.
In a special-called Commissioners Court session July 11, Snell approved $200,000 in vouchers to cover the costs associated with the landfill.
Discussion on further flood-debris disposal and pay for county employees who worked during the catastrophe was pushed off to upcoming meetings.
