Mendoza and Río Negro move ahead on AI

Mendoza, two bills under review

In Mendoza, the provincial Senate is debating committee-level discussion of a cybersecurity bill promoted by the executive branch, with input from Security Minister Mercedes Rus, according to Los Andes. At the same time, lawmakers from the Fuerza Patria bloc have introduced a separate provincial cybercrime proposal centered on protecting personal data in the provincial and municipal public sectors, applicable to government agencies that handle citizen information.

The bill was presented in Mendoza's Legislature by deputies Lucas Ilardo and Lidia Quintana, together with Senator Félix González, during a press conference. Under the proposal, each government agency would have to appoint a professional responsible for data protection within 180 days of the law taking effect.

The text also requires the state to report any data breach, leak, or hack affecting government agencies within 72 hours, and to notify affected citizens immediately. It further sets aside 50% of fines tied to data protection violations for a Reparations Fund to finance free legal assistance and digital education programs for the public.

Río Negro sets rules for AI use in government

A bill has been introduced in Río Negro's Legislature to establish a Regulatory Framework for the Responsible Use of Artificial Intelligence in the Provincial Public Sector. The initiative, backed by legislator Martina Lacour and supported by Patricia Mc Kidd, Gabriela Picotti, Santiago Ibarrolaza, and Claudio Doctorovich, classifies AI systems by risk level, minimal, limited, high, and unacceptable.

For high-risk systems, the proposal calls for a prior Algorithmic Impact Assessment and independent technical audits every two years. It also explicitly bans social scoring, indiscriminate mass surveillance, facial recognition based on mass scraping of photos from social media, and sanctions based solely on predictive analysis.

The proposal also would create a public, free Provincial Registry of Artificial Intelligence Systems, so it is possible to see which agencies use AI, for what purpose, what data they process, and how much human oversight they have. Any systems already operating in the public sector would have 180 days to register and up to 365 days to comply with the new impact and security requirements once the law is approved.