White House unveils AI Bill of Rights to protect people from ‘abusive’ artificial intelligence

Blueprint includes protections against ‘deeply harmful’ algorithmic discrimination

Biden Manufacturing (Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

US President Joe Biden has released a blueprint for an ‘AI Bill of Rights’ that aims to protect citizens against potential harms associated with artificial intelligence.

First proposed by the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) last year, the bill outlines ways to hold companies more accountable for the technology they develop.

It includes protections against abusive data practices, algorithmic discrimination, pervasive tracking, and unsafe systems.

“Too often, these tools are used to limit our opportunities and prevent our access to critical resources or services,” the bill states.

“These outcomes are deeply harmful – but they are not inevitable... Fueled by the power of American innovation, these tools hold the potential to redefine every part of our society and make life better for everyone. This important progress must not come at the price of civil rights or democratic values.”

The framework set out in the blueprint applies to automated systems that have the potential to “meaningfully impact” the American public’s rights, opportunities, or access to critical resources or services.

“This is the Biden-Harris administration really saying that we need to work together, not only just across government, but across all sectors, to really put equity at the centre and civil rights at the centre of the ways that we make and use and govern technologies,” Alondra Nelson, deputy director for science and society at the OSTP, told reporters.

“We can and should expect better and demand better from our technologies.”

The European Union is also planning legislation aimed at regulating the sector and introducing checks for “high risk” artificial intelligence systems through the AI Act.

It includes a new bill called the AI Liability Directive, which is expected to pass into law within the next two years, would make it easier for consumers to launch EU-wide class action lawsuits.