AI for the People: How Proposed Federal Legislation Aims to Advance Equity in AI
By Kyle Palmer, SCU ‘22
In late spring 2022, AI governance activist Mutale Nkonde spoke about the current set of proposed federal bills regulating artificial intelligence (AI), how they work, and their prospects for passage.
Nkonde’s talk, focused on legislative proposals was part of the 2022 AI, Equity, and Law Series, which also included John Paul Farmer, former Chief Technology Officer of New York City, and Dr. Michael Veale, associate professor at University College London with expertise in AI governance. This series is curated by Professor Colleen Chien. A video recording of Nkonde’s talk can be found here.
An Activist with a Unique Mission
Nkonde is the founder and CEO of AI for the People, a non-profit communications firm that seeks to use popular culture to educate Black audiences about the social justice implications of the use of AI in public life. Prior to founding AI for the People, Nkonde was part of a team working in AI governance that helped introduce the Algorithmic Accountability Act, the DEEP FAKES Accountability Act, and the No Biometric Barriers to Housing Act to the U.S. House of Representatives. AI for the People’s mission is to ensure that AI technologies are designed, deployed, and governed in ways that can benefit all of us.
Nkonde worked as a journalist before turning towards legislative advocacy. She said that her work in journalism taught her how to use storytelling as a tool to help shift public opinions and enact new laws. At the time, lawmakers were struggling to implement AI laws, which made for slow progress as AI advancements were exploding.
State of the Union
Specifically, civil rights laws were not being applied to AI technologies because of the difficulties in linking an AI’s algorithm to direct discrimination. Nkonde feared that AI would affect underprivileged communities in ways that could not be legally connected to civil rights actions. For example, Nkonde discussed the risk of AI perpetuating discrimination such as redlining, or that facial recognition software could supercharge stop-and-frisk laws in New York City.
Nkonde and a group of all-women colleagues began to develop what would become the Algorithmic Accountability Act of 2022 (AAA) (H.R. 6580, S. 3572). The bill would force companies to disclose metrics about their algorithms, specifically by requiring covered entities to submit an annual impact assessment report for “automated decision systems.” Covered entities are defined as companies with a market cap over $250 million or which process information about more than one million users or devices. It would require the FTC to publish an annual report on the impact assessment results and store this data in a publicly accessible database. The bill, however, remains stuck in Congress for now.
Legislative Efforts in AI and Equity
Nkonde’s talk highlighted just how slow Congress has been to pass laws in response to the rapid growth in AI. In lieu of legislative action, the task of advancing equity in AI across the public and private sectors has largely been left to executive agency actors like the Federal Trade Commission. The AI, Equity, and Law blog has separately covered how the FTC pursues AI and equity issues.
However, with AI now moving into the mainstream consciousness, Congressional lawmakers have proposed a host of bills so far in 2022 to reconcile public interests with a powerful new technology that many members of Congress probably struggle to understand.
- On January 18, 2022, Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Congresswomen Anna Eshoo (D-CA) and Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) introduced the Banning Surveillance Advertising Act of 2022 (H.R. 6416, S. 3520). It would generally prohibit targeted advertisements based on, or derived from, personal information. The bill includes a private right of action for harmed consumers.
- On February 18, 2022, Representative Markwayne Mullin (R-OK2) introduced the Increasing Consumers’ Education on Law Enforcement Resources Act (H.R. 6786), which would require the FTC and Attorney General to develop an educational program to inform the public about resources available regarding privacy and civil rights violations occurring online.
- On February 18, 2022, Representative Gus Bilirakis (R-FL12) introduced the Cooperation Among Police, Tech, and Users to Resist Exploitation Act of 2022 (H.R. 6755). This act would instruct the Comptroller General to generate a report for the U.S. Congress regarding social media companies and recommendations for legislation.
- On February 26, 2022, Congressional representatives Lori Trahan (D-MA3), Adam Schiff (D-CA28), and Sean Casten (D-IL6) announced the Digital Services Oversight and Safety of 2022 (H.R. 6796). It would create an “FTC Bureau of Digital Services Oversight and Safety,” vested with the power to define a code of conduct for online platforms and enforce it. The 500-person Bureau would include technologists, so-called socio-technical experts, and constitutional lawyers.
After years of inaction, Congress has recently gone into overdrive in an effort to catch up to the mass adoption of AI in the digital economy. In 2021, more than 30 bills were introduced in the House and Senate with a prominent focus on the regulation of algorithms. Many of these bills share a focus on creating an expanded role for the FTC or on reforming Section 230.
First introduced in April 2019 by Representative Yvette Clark (D-NY9), the current version of the Algorithmic Accountability Act, introduced February 4, 2022, has since been modified such that it would expand the FTC’s power to bring AI and equity issues under its ambit. The latest version of the bill would charge the agency with enforcing technical consumer rights violations by establishing a 50-person Bureau of Technology at the agency. Nkonde explained that some of the impetus for this new focus of the bill came from “dark patterns,” or software programs that make it difficult for consumers to unsubscribe from free trials, in which consumers expect free products but get charged for them instead. Such violations of consumer trust go to the core of the FTC’s founding purpose. To protect consumers, Nkonde said, the FTC needs a separate branch specializing in these kinds of consumer rights violations.
All of five of the bills referenced above — H.R. 6580, H.R. 6416, H.R. 6786, H.R. 6755, H.R. 6796 — have been referred to the House Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Commerce. On March 1, 2022, the subcommittee held a committee hearing on all five. Whether the AAA, let alone the other four newer bills, will be able to overcome political and industry opposition remains to be seen. Nkonde emphasized that the protection of civil rights, especially for the most marginalized, needs to be the guiding focus of AI governance.
“My position has always been that America is a capitalistic nation and we do want an enabling business environment, but it cannot be at the expense of the American people,” she said. “[AI] needs to be designed, deployed, and governed in a way that centers the most marginal so it can be more useful, more efficacious for all groups.”
