WASHINGTON– The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law commends the Biden Administration on the introduction of its new AI Bill of Rights, a landmark set of principles for the fair and ethical use of artificial intelligence, machine learning and other data-driven technologies.
“Privacy rights are civil rights. As our lives are increasingly spent online, it is more important than ever that racial equity is advanced in the digital world. The AI Bill of Rights establishes important principles for data use by both the government and the private sector,” said Damon Hewitt, President and Executive Director of the Lawyers’ Committee. “Even with good intentions, big data technologies can reproduce and reinforce patterns of discrimination. We need safeguards against algorithmic bias and other forms of digital discrimination to ensure the data used to inform artificial intelligence is unbiased and that the results are equitable. The Lawyers’ Committee looks forward to working with the White House and its Office of Science and Technology Policy on implementing this plan, even as we push for federal laws defending data privacy.”
“Already, communities of color are facing disproportionate adverse effects from the rapid proliferation of AI technologies in the United States. The Bill of Rights establishes a new generation of fair information practices,” said David Brody, Managing Attorney of the Digital Justice Initiative at the Lawyers’ Committee. “Automated decision-making systems are used to determine access to and eligibility for essential needs such as housing, employment, credit, healthcare, education, insurance, and public accommodations. Despite claims that these AI technologies are ‘advanced,’ they cannot distinguish between acceptable patterns of data and those that are the product of historic and repeated inequities. To fully implement the principles in this new AI Bill of Rights, congressional action is needed. Congress must pass The American Data Privacy and Protection Act and build out our civil rights infrastructure to fight discrimination in a data-driven economy.”
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About the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law – The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, formed in 1963 at the request of President John F. Kennedy to mobilize the nation’s leading lawyers as agents for change in the Civil Rights Movement. Today, the Lawyers’ Committee uses legal advocacy to achieve racial justice, fighting inside and outside the courts to ensure that Black people and other people of color have the voice, opportunity, and power to make the promises of our democracy real. For more information, please visit https://lawyerscommittee.org
