Months after opposing legislation before the General Assembly that would have regulated artificial intelligence for businesses, Connecticut’s Business and Industry Association this week partnered with Meta to host AI training for business owners.
The training, held Tuesday, comes nearly two months after Connecticut legislators once again ended a legislative session without imposing AI regulation for businesses.
Meta, owner of Meta AI, first rolled out the training events for businesses in its headquarters state of California, where private sector regulatory laws for AI exist. The event in Hartford, however, was Meta’s first AI training venture in the northeast.
Across Connecticut, companies use AI for a wide range of purposes, from health care monitoring and contract review to technological support and typing up job descriptions. While AI is unregulated for businesses in Connecticut, some businesses have been wary to fully implement its use.
According to CBIA’s 2025 survey of CT businesses, nearly three-quarters of respondents were interested in using AI technology for their business, but did not know how to move ahead with it. During the training, participants learned prompt-engineering, effective communication of brand tone with AI and evaluated the specific uses of AI in their operations.
“[AI] is an essential tool for any business to be able to adapt and sustain in the future, and it is an essential tool for a workforce,” said Hartford Mayor Arunan Arulampalam at the event.
Interested, but unsure
Jason Howie, CEO of AVNA, a medical manufacturing company based in New Britain, said that their business uses AI for contract reviews, drafting job descriptions and assistance for certain engineering problems.
Jacqueline Wetherell, director of workforce development & continuing education at CT State Quinebaug Valley, said that Connecticut State Colleges and Universities continue to provide AI certification to students, under a federal workforce training grant that aims to “close equity gaps.”
West Hartford Chamber of Commerce’s CEO Christopher Conway and Kate Kobs, the chamber’s director of development and programs, said AI helps them brainstorm and process internal data. For example, Kobs said, AI helped her code the interface for their website, despite her lack of coding experience.
“We’re working with all of the major corporations in the city and all the colleges across the state of Connecticut,” Arulampalam said, pointing to the Connecticut AI Alliance, a coalition of 16 universities across the state focusing on AI-oriented research, workforce training, and educational programs.
Last year, the Department of Economic and Community Development announced “Innovation Clusters,” $100 million in grant funding for innovative startups, including quantum computing and AI hubs.
Arulampalam pointed to Jeff Auker, Hartford’s director of development services, who is working on plans that would make the capital city an AI hub by establishing an applied AI center near Dunkin’ Park. The center’s costs are estimated at $90 million and developers will vie for nearly half of “Innovation Clusters” funds.
Decisions for grant finalists are yet to be announced.
AI legislation
In this year’s legislative session, lawmakers criminalized AI generated revenge deepfake pornography and secured funding for AI education. However, Gov. Ned Lamont, under threats of a veto, stopped a bill that would have regulated AI use for businesses from being called to a vote in the House, although it passed through the Senate with much support.
Senate Bill 2 would have required companies to disclose AI use, document their processes, perform risk assessments and protect consumers from discrimination. Proponents of the bill cited the risk of AI’s bias in evaluating housing, credit and job applications. The legislation sought to regulate AI, not to stymie its use or development, according to Sen. James Maroney, D-Milford, who has long championed AI regulation by sponsoring legislation and co-chairing a statewide joint taskforce on the issue.
Lamont voiced concern that regulatory legislation could impede on business development and investment across the state. Other opponents of the bill argued that piecemeal legislation would be confusing and questioned Connecticut’s commitment to being among the first states to regulate AI for businesses.
Nationwide regulation still vary, with Colorado and Utah among the states to pass AI regulatory legislation for businesses.
The Trump administration also criminalised AI generated deepfake pornography in May. The original version of the “One Big Beautiful Bill” contained language that banned states from enacting and enforcing their own AI regulation laws for 10 years. In a 99-1 Senate vote, however, the language was removed and states can still chart their own regulation laws for AI.
David Steuber, chief of staff for the Department of Economic and Community Development, pointed to the benefits of harnessing new technology.
“There are good reasons to be concerned about the future, but I think that the thing we should try to do is to really lean into this new technology, make the most of it and see how we can leverage it in our daily, personal, and our business lives,” he said.
Chris Davis, CBIA’s vice president of public policy, thanked Meta for “targeting us and having us be the first one [event] on the East Coast.
“We’re very excited about it,” he said.
