The Senate’s recent report on AI regulations doesn’t do enough to protect civil rights, according to the organization Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights.
Following the release of the joint report by Senators Chuck Schumer, Mike Rounds, Martin Heinrich and Todd Young, the civil rights organization released an official statement emphasizing the report’s lack of solutions to protect people’s civil rights as AI becomes more incorporated in society.
With the report, the Senate reportedly fails to address the impact of AI on BIPOC Americans, focusing instead on its impact on topics such as elections. According to the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, under their provisions, it would allow for the continuation of the harmful effects of AI, effectively “leaving Black and Brown communities behind.”
Along with civil rights, the newly announced report also fails to address the incorporation of AI in immigration, policing and criminal justice.
“While the report briefly raises issues that the civil rights community has raised consistently, it is completely devoid of substantive recommendations or legislative steps to address them,” the president of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Damon Hewitt, per a statement. “In that regard, what is billed as a roadmap seems more like a treadmill–lots of energy expended, but little forward movement.”
This week, a new Senate report on artificial intelligence was released. We do not believe it sufficiently addresses the wide array of risks that #AI poses to racial justice and civil rights.
— Lawyers' Committee ☎️866-OUR-VOTE (@LawyersComm) May 16, 2024
Read our full response here: https://t.co/CVfb7aOBIi
In recent years, the popularity of AI has increased exponentially through the usage of sites such as ChatGPT. With its increased incorporation, however, experts are saying that it may have a negative effect, especially among workers.
Per a report by McKinsey, out of all people, Black employees are expected to be the most affected as 24% are in a job position that has a 75% or greater chance of being replaced by automation.
Previous reports have also found that AI has contributed to biases when it was implemented. Per a paper by Stanford Law School, when chatbots like OpenAI’s ChatpGPT 4 and Google AI’s PaLM-2 were incorporated, the AI tools were more likely to be biased towards Black women.
According to researchers, whereas a candidate with a name like Todd was associated with a higher proposed salary of $82,485, a candidate with the name of Tamika received approximately $3,000 less at a rate of $79,375.
The biases remained consistent when tested with election candidates and athletic rankings.
“With unregulated AI-driven decisions impacting equal opportunity and the general election season around the corner, it is imperative that Congress move swiftly to regulate AI and protect civil rights online,” said Hewitt. “We cannot afford to wait another year for legislation to protect our rights amidst a rapidly growing technological landscape. The time to act is now.”
