Legislation from Summer Lee, Democratic colleagues would combat discriminatory AI

Artificial intelligence is transforming the world, one algorithm at a time.

U.S. Rep. Summer Lee, D-Swissvale, wants to make sure those algorithms don’t violate people’s civil rights.

Lee and three of her Democratic colleagues in the House are introducing a bill that would aim to prevent companies from using discriminatory AI tools to make important decisions that impact Americans’ lives. U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., is reintroducing a companion bill in the Senate. U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio, D-Fox Chapel, is among nearly two dozen cosponsors.

“Technology does not exist above our society. It reflects every bias and every inequality that has yet to be fixed,” Lee said Tuesday during a news conference announcing the legislation.

Markey pointed to a 2019 report that showed mortgage lenders were 80% more likely to reject Black applicants, in part, because of biased mortgage-approval algorithms. A 2022 study Markey cited found that AI models used to predict liver disease were twice as likely to miss the disease in women than in men. Multiple studies have shown evidence of discrimination against women and people of color in companies’ AI-assisted hiring practices.

“More and more, instead of humans denying minorities equal access to employment and goods, algorithms are doing that dirty work,” said U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., who is introducing the House bill along with Lee and U.S. Reps. Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., and Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass.

“Studies have shown that AI has been used to deny people housing, screen out job applicants and keep criminal defendants in jail longer based on race and gender,” Jayapal added. “That’s why we need a modernized approach to regulate these algorithms head-on and stop this discrimination.

“No company should be allowed to deploy a discriminatory algorithm that is involved in critical decisions in a person’s life,” Markey said. “Bias is bias, whether it comes from a human or from a machine. Under this bill, algorithmic discrimination will be unlawful, period.”

Markey said the legislation would “prohibit companies from offering, licensing or using algorithms that discriminate based on a protective characteristic such as race or sex.”

It also would require companies to “complete independently audited evaluations and impact assessments to identify and mitigate any algorithmic discrimination,” while also providing people with the right to appeal a decision made using AI to a “human decisionmaker,” Markey said.

Markey said the legislation would authorize the Federal Trade Commission, state attorneys general and private individuals to enforce the law.