Good morning and welcome back to the Tip Sheet, a weekly newsletter from Tom Dudchik’s Capitol Report written by Mike Cerulli.

The end of the 2025 legislative session is in sight. It’s crunch time for a host of major legislative proposals, including a significantly amended artificial intelligence regulation bill. We’ll take a look at an interesting angle in that debate. Plus, former President Joe Biden visited Connecticut last week. The Tip Sheet’s author tracked him down. What did he have to say?

Let’s dive in…

As they weigh regulations, state leaders embrace AI in their own work

It’s no secret that Gov. Ned Lamont has a lot of smart people working for him. His cadre of close advisors is filled with hardened political veterans, industry leaders, and seemingly more Ivy League degrees than Mory’s on a Friday night. But in terms of raw brain power, there’s one gubernatorial advisor who might have even the smartest members of the governor’s inner circle beat. Who is this highly credentialed confidant? ChatGPT.

That’s right, Connecticut’s 71-year old governor is a big fan of artificial intelligence chatbots like OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

“I find it very helpful for me,” Lamont said when asked about his use of A.I.

What kind of queries has he given ChatGPT?

“ChatGPT, is Eversource allocating their capital resources disproportionately outside of Connecticut and how will that impact the future of electricity in our region?” Lamont said.

The revelation that the governor is leaning on A.I. to address some of the most pressing issues facing Connecticut might come as a surprise to even the most plugged-in political observers. But perhaps it's not surprising for a man who has embraced emerging technologies throughout his career in the private sector and politics. In the 1980s, armed with a degree from the Yale School of Management, a young Ned Lamont made his first entrepreneurial foray into the world of cable television – a time when that novel distribution technology was disrupting the traditional broadcast industry. During his insurgent run for the U.S. Senate in 2006, Lamont made common cause with figures in the nascent online blogging ecosystem.

Today, as policy leaders around the world grapple with the rapid advance of A.I., Lamont appears to again be firmly on the side of early adoption. Last year, he effectively torpedoed what would have been a landmark set of A.I. regulations championed by State Sen. James Maroney. This year, Lamont appears poised to do it again – even after a bipartisan compromise in the state senate watered down a new artificial intelligence bill.

“I’m still a little negative,” Lamont said of the legislation last week. “I worry about the headlines saying, ‘Connecticut first in the country to regulate A.I.’ I don’t think that’s going to help us attract the next generation of jobs.”

Could Lamont’s own personal use of A.I. be coloring his views on regulating the new technology? It’s possible. Aside from using chatbots to answer prompts on complex policy issues like energy, the governor also said he finds A.I. to be helpful in answering more routine questions. Before speeches to civic organizations or visits to local high schools, Lamont said he’s turned to A.I. for primers on relevant topics and interesting factoids to help him prepare.

In speaking about his use of A.I., Lamont playfully acknowledged that the technology might be triggering some anxiety within his own office.

“He does pretty good on the briefings,” Lamont said, pointing to his communications chief, Rob Blanchard. “But so does ChatGPT.”

Lamont isn’t the only Connecticut politician who has begun to use A.I. on the job. In recent weeks, Republicans in both chambers of the state legislature have used generative A.I. tools to create content in their increasingly aggressive campaign of public criticism of the Democrats.

The Senate Republican caucus used an A.I. image generator to create a portrait-like picture of an empty lawn chair with the caption “Governor Ned Lamont.” The picture was accompanied by an actual lawn chair outside the Republican offices on the third floor of the Capitol. The display was intended to illustrate a comment made by State Sen. Heather Somers, who said the governor “folded” like a lawn chair in negotiations with legislative Democrats over the state’s constitutional spending cap.

The House Republican caucus took it a step further, utilizing an A.I. video generator to hit Lamont on the issue of affordability.

Text scrolled across the screen in a mock prompt of the video generator, asking for a rundown on the priorities of Connecticut’s majority Democrats.

“I’m on a fixed income,” an A.I.-generated man asked in a town hall meeting. “What are you doing to help with these electric rates?”

“Well, we decriminalized magic mushrooms,” a disembodied female voice replied.

An A.I.-generated homeschooling mother, a pizza delivery driver, and a police officer also leveled criticism of Democratic policies.

The House Republicans’ video represents a major leap forward in the use of A.I. to deliver political messaging in Connecticut. It also raises questions about the future of A.I. regulations. Should political entities be required to disclose when and how they are using artificially generated images and videos? Generative A.I. tools have already been used to deceive voters in the lead up to important elections.

Taking a lead from the governor and his Republican detractors, the Tip Sheet decided to ask ChatGPT, “How should Connecticut policymakers regulate artificial intelligence?”

The chatbot produced an eight-part framework that includes enacting transparent A.I. usage and procurement standards, requiring risk-based oversight of high-impact A.I. systems, strengthening data privacy, supporting A.I. literacy, and banning particularly harmful A.I. uses like real-time facial recognition in public spaces.

Those suggestions track closely with some of the core tenants in Maroney’s original legislation, though key provisions of that legislation targeting potential discriminatory decision making by A.I. were nixed as part of the late night deal struck to bring some Republicans onboard.

We asked ChatGPT how likely it is that the legislation will be passed in this legislative session.

“Uncertain” was one word used in the chatbot’s response.

Under a section labeled “Supportive Developments” the chatbot outlined the support the legislation had in the state senate. The response also detailed industry opposition, as well as a section accompanied by a red “x” emoji titled “gubernatorial opposition.”

Biden re-emerges in CT

Well-done burger. Extra tomatoes. That’s the order that came across last Thursday evening at The Woodland restaurant in Lakeville. The convoy of armored Chevy Suburbans parked outside might’ve given the chefs working the line some indication that the order was unlike any other they’d ever filled. Former President Joe Biden was in town to attend his grandson’s graduation from the Salisbury School. The former president stopped to speak with diners and take a few photos on his way out. It was the first time Biden was seen in public since he disclosed that he had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer.

The Tip Sheet’s author managed to track down the former president as he was on his way to catch a commercial flight at Bradley International Airport on Friday. It was a brief exchange that offered a small glimpse into Biden’s post-presidency interactions with the public.

“Feeling great!” Biden said in response to shouted questions when he emerged from his motorcade.

Biden stopped to greet a small crowd of shocked travelers. He whisked past the Tip Sheet’s author, declining to answer additional questions. Former First Lady Jill Biden was traveling with him. She also declined questions. Inside the terminal, travelers broke into spontaneous applause and cheers for the former president.

Biden’s re-emergence came amidst renewed scrutiny of his time in office and his decision to run for re-election in 2024 before his performance on the debate stage ultimately forced him from the race. The thoroughly-reported new book “Original Sin” by CNN anchor Jake Tapper and Axios political reporter Alex Thompson describes an effort to conceal a decline of Biden’s mental acuity.

Two Connecticut politicians make appearances in the book. In one vignette, Tapper and Thompson describe a meeting between Biden and a group of Democratic governors following his halting debate performance. Gov. Ned Lamont is described as “affably” suggesting Biden leave the race in order to take the issue of age off the table. Lamont confirmed last week that this recounting is accurate. The book also describes Rep. Jim Himes’s decision to publicly call for Biden to drop out of the race following a press conference conducted by the president. Himes is reported to have come to the realization that “Democrats had so lowered the bar that when Biden strung four sentences together in a cogent way, they all celebrated.”

Neither of Connecticut’s U.S. Senators are mentioned in “Original Sin,” but our state’s junior senator has since been pressed on his actions during the 2024 election.

A year later, Murphy told Politico he had “no doubt” that Biden suffered cognitive decline while serving as commander-in-chief.

“Mr. Murphy is on the leading edge of top Democrats aiming to Etch A Sketch away their past endorsements of Mr. Biden’s acuity,” the Times wrote.

The Times said that Murphy, who has engaged in a sweeping media offensive since the election, declined to be interviewed for their article.

We’ll be back next week with another edition of the Tip Sheet!