Proposed US AI Bill Costs May Outweigh Benefits

Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), with Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Representative Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.), introduced in early February the Algorithmic Accountability Act of 2022. This bill aims to bring transparency and oversight of software, algorithms and other automated systems that are used to make automated decisions. "As algorithms and other automated decision systems take on increasingly prominent roles in our lives, we have a responsibility to ensure that they are adequately assessed for biases that may disadvantage minority or marginalized communities," said Sen. Booker. The bill requires companies to conduct impact assessments for bias, effectiveness and other factors, when using automated decision systems to make critical decisions. The bill also gives the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) the authority to require the companies to comply with this bill and to create a public repository of these automated systems.