MON AM News: Visual effects executive calls for guardrails on AI; Circulating bill would help fund new mental health facility in Chippewa Valley

August 25, 2025

— A visual effects executive says “there needs to be guardrails” on AI as the technology becomes increasingly skilled at producing high-quality images and animation.

Scott Ross, who co-founded the Academy Award-winning studio Digital Domain Inc., discussed this topic during last week’s Forward Fest in Madison. Ross led Lucasfilm’s Industrial Light and Magic in the 1980s and later launched Digital Domain, Inc. in 1993 alongside film director James Cameron.

“For certain artists, these tools will be a boon and beneficial, and for other artists, they will not,” Ross said. “And it also depends upon how ethical the people that are building large language models are, and whether they’re scraping the internet or whether they’re licensing things … but it’s the wild, wild west now.”

Referencing the history of the internet as a comparison, he argued “guardrails are not the most important thing for people in power and people that run companies. The most important thing is profit.”

He also said other nations competing for AI supremacy are unlikely to implement restrictive regulations of their own, pointing to Russia, China and North Korea as examples.

Ross, who played a role in the film effects industry’s transition from analogue to digital technology, discussed concerns at the time about people losing their jobs, drawing a parallel with modern concerns about AI replacing workers.

“Everybody thought everybody was going to lose their jobs, and since I was there I’ll tell you that a few people did because they didn’t, you know, sort of come on board the digital train,” he said. “But in fact, there were a lot more people hired as a result, and the industry went international as a result.”

Ultimately, the digital revolution in the industry provided a new toolset for those in the field, enabling them to do things they couldn’t before.

“There have been things that are done that are bad, there have been things that are done that are better,” Ross said. “I mean, Jim couldn’t have done Avatar had it not been for CGI and the like, but those are tools, and the fundamental difference is with AI, it’s not just a tool. It’s actually an agent, you can ask it to do things.”

He argues AI is still essentially in its infancy, noting “it’s not perfect yet” but continues to rapidly advance and improve.

“Look how far generative AI … has come in visual effects and animation and production from let’s say a year and a half ago,” he said, adding “this infant is growing fast, faster than anything you’ve ever seen.”

Watch the video and see more coverage from Forward Fest.

— Legislation being circulated by GOP authors would direct the state Department of Health Services to award a $10 million grant to Rogers Behavioral Health to build and run a mental health facility in the Chippewa Valley.

Sens. Jesse James of Thorp and Romaine Quinn of Birchwood, along with Reps. Clint Moses of Menomonie, Karen Hurd of Withee, Rob Summerfield of Bloomer and Dave Armstrong of Rice Lake, last week sent a cosponsorship memo on the bill to other lawmakers.

The memo for the legislation — LRB-4248/1 and LRB-4468/1 — references the state budget’s $10 million allocation to build a new mental health facility in the Chippewa Valley.

“This region of the state desperately needs mental health resources, particularly to meet escalating adolescent and adult psychiatric needs,” lawmakers wrote. “The area lacks youth inpatient or residential beds, leaving the area without the capacity to meet acute behavioral-health demands.”

They point to Hospital Sisters Health System shutting down hospitals in Chippewa Falls and Eau Claire last year, which caused the region to lose 33 of its psychiatric beds. Since that time, locals have had to drive more than three hours in some cases for crisis care, leading to emergency departments in the area being occupied by psychiatric patients rather than those with other acute health needs.

The lawmakers argue northwestern Wisconsin’s behavioral health safety net has “frayed to the point of crisis” following these closures.

“Market modeling shows that every metro area from Wausau to Eau Claire is 30-80 inpatient behavioral health beds short, despite having far smaller populations than Milwaukee or Madison,” they wrote. “Rogers Behavioral Health is aiming to close that gap in Wisconsin.”

The proposed facility would include a “crisis stabilization unit” for short-term stays, a longer-term residential treatment center, a partial hospitalization and intensive outpatient program with therapy services, staff-supported housing and more.

Under the bill, DHS can only award the grant if Rogers Behavioral Health submits a letter of intent outlining its plans for building the mental health facility as described in the bill, as well as proof of purchase or lease of land.

The cosponsorship deadline is 5 p.m. tomorrow.

See the bill text.

— U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin is touting legislation to provide premium-free medical insurance for members of the National Guard and Reserve.

The Madison Dem notes 16% or nearly 130,000 members of the National Guard and Reserve don’t have private health insurance. She argues these service members “deserve and have earned” affordable, high-quality health care.

“My bill doesn’t just deliver earned benefits to our troops, it’s also an investment in military readiness to ensure service members get the care they need to stay healthy,” she said in the release.

The Healthcare for Our Troops Act would also offer qualifying service members the option to complete annual medical readiness requirements with a preferred civilian provider, which would save more than $162 million per year in contracted medical assessments, according to the release.

Jeannie Jeanetta, president of the Wisconsin National Guard Association, is urging Congress to advance the bill, noting a lack of health care coverage for members impacts readiness, retention and wellbeing.

“Our service members are asked to do more than ever — responding to domestic emergencies, deploying overseas, filling critical roles,” she said in a statement. “They deserve continuous, no-cost access to healthcare to ensure they remain healthy, resilient, and mission-ready”

See the bill text and release.

Top headlines from the Health Care Report…

— State health officials have now confirmed 14 total cases of measles in the state after identifying five more in Oconto County.

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