AI legislation must address bias in algorithmic decision-making systems

All the sessions from Transform 2021 are available on-demand now. In early June, border officials "quietly deployed" the mobile app CBP One at the U.S.-Mexico border to "streamline the processing" of asylum seekers. While the app will reduce manual data entry and speed up the process, it also relies on controversial facial recognition technologies and stores sensitive information on asylum seekers prior to their entry to the U.S. The issue here is not the use of artificial intelligence per se, but what it means in relation to the Biden administration's pre-election promise of civil rights in technology, including AI bias and data privacy. When the Democrats took control of both House and Senate in January, onlookers were optimistic that there was an appetite for a federal privacy bill and legislation to stem bias in algorithmic decision-making systems. This is long overdue, said Ben Winters, Equal Justice Works Fellow of the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), who works on matters related to AI and the criminal justice system.