New York City Artificial Intelligence Laws

Newly emerging artificial intelligence (AI) technologies could hold a promising solution to streamlining certain employment practices and processes of hiring applicants in a number of different industries. Historically, both federal courts and regulatory enforcement agencies have been opposed to the overall usage of AI tools, having scrutinized them heavily under local, state and federal anti-discrimination laws. In what was a welcome piece of news for New York-based employers, the New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection recently published a set of proposed rules that could drastically reshape the process of hiring and employment-based legislation still awaiting approval. For city employers who heavily utilize automated employment decision tools (AEDT) for hiring, these proposed rules will provide some initial guidance on the laws surrounding artificial intelligence, with hopes of clarifying the ambiguous AI law the city enacted back in 2021. The law, which won't fully go into effect until January 1, 2023, prohibits employers from using any form of AEDT unless a bias audit is completed by an independently sourced auditor and notice requirements are fully met.