ACLU Comment on U.S. Senate AI Working Group Policy Roadmap
WASHINGTON — Today, a U.S. Senate artificial intelligence (AI) working group led by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer released a laying out a roadmap for regulation of AI. In response to the policy paper, Cody Venzke, senior policy counsel with the American Civil Liberties Union, issued the following statement:
"The AI policy roadmap sets us on the wrong path. Despite mountains of evidence provided by numerous organizations at multiple ‘AI Insight Fora,’ the roadmap gives little acknowledgement of the risks to civil rights and civil liberties posed by AI. For example, algorithmic systems used to screen tenants are prone to errors and incorrectly include criminal or eviction records tied to people with similar names; such errors fall hardest on Black and Latine people. Similarly, algorithmic tools, already used widely in hiring and other employment decisions, have been repeatedly shown to exacerbate barriers in the workplace on the basis of race, disability, gender and other protected characteristics.
“Enforcement of existing civil rights laws should be reinforced with meaningful protections, such as creating standards for assessing when the risk to civil rights and civil liberties is too great to warrant use. People should be able to receive notice when AI is used in making decisions about us, and the law should require audits and assessments of algorithmic decision making, mitigation of discrimination and other harms, decommissioning of AI if mitigation is not possible, and providing recourse, including human alternatives.
"Just as concerningly, the AI roadmap appears to double down on uses of AI in defense, national security, and intelligence — agencies that are already broadly using AI and whose use of AI has many of the most profound impact on individuals’ civil rights and civil liberties. The roadmap supports increased funding for defense and national security uses but has virtually nothing that would mandate the adoption of robust safeguards for AI systems that contribute to surveillance, watchlisting, searches of travelers at the border, or even the use of lethal force. If the development of AI systems for national security purposes is an urgent priority for the country, then the adoption of critical protections by Congress and the executive branch is just as urgent. We cannot wait until dangerous systems have already become entrenched.”
The U.S. Senate AI working group policy paper can be found here:
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Press ReleaseDec 2024
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WASHINGTON — Today, the House Task Force on Artificial Intelligence (AI) issued its final report, marking an important step in recognizing the serious risks of discrimination and bias posed by AI systems — particularly in law enforcement’s use of facial recognition technology. The report recognizes that discrimination and bias may arise in AI systems due to their design, training data, or failures by end users. The report also investigates the complex considerations around deepfakes, open AI systems, and free speech, and urges Congress to pass narrow legislation to address concrete harms. In response to the House AI Task Force final report, Cody Venzke, senior policy counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union, issued the following statement: “The ACLU commends the Task Force for recognizing that AI systems are harming people right now through discriminatory outcomes and supercharged surveillance. Curbing those abuses of AI is not a partisan issue, and more concrete action is needed to protect civil rights, while maintaining states’ authority to build on those protections. The Task Force is appropriately cautious when wrestling with issues around deepfakes, open-source AI, digital identity, and other issues, recognizing that legislators should consider a wide array of tailored tools to address real, not speculative, harms while respecting civil rights and civil liberties.” The House Task Force on Artificial Intelligence report can be found here. -
News & CommentaryDec 2024
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WASHINGTON — Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) released a roadmap for artificial intelligence (AI) best practices, designed to ensure that emerging technologies such as AI enhance job quality, benefit workers, and comply with existing employment laws when they are used in the workplace. The best practices, pursuant to President Biden’s executive order on the development and use of AI, include recommendations for AI system developers and employers that prioritize workers’ experiences and empowerment throughout the entire AI lifecycle – from design to use and oversight. These practices also call on employers and developers to create standards and processes to identify and mitigate risks from AI systems, such as threats to health and safety, civil rights, privacy, fair labor rights, and labor organizing prior to a developer marketing them or an employer deploying them, and recommend turning to different systems when sufficient mitigation is not possible. “We applaud DOL for issuing best practices for use of AI that center workers’ empowerment, civil rights, privacy, and safety protections and call on developers and employers to adopt critical guardrails in developing, procuring and using AI systems. Employers and developers should take note, as many have been burying their heads in the sand on their risk of legal liability with respect to AI tools,” said Olga Akselrod, senior staff attorney of the ACLU Racial Justice Program. “Following these best practices for AI can help employers and developers ensure that they do not violate existing civil rights and other employment laws that protect workers.” The best practices also recommend transparency measures through conducting and publishing impact assessments, notice and recourse for impacted workers, and measures to minimize worker displacement. The DOL also stated that employers should minimize electronic monitoring and avoid unnecessary collection or retention of worker data.