AI expert Marva Bailer explains how Will.i.am's app, FYI, powers his AI co-host for his radio show and why the platform has different capabilities than ChatGPT While artificial intelligence made headlines with ChatGPT, behind the scenes, the technology has quietly pervaded everyday life -- screening job resumes, rental apartment applications, and even determining medical care in some cases. While a number of AI systems have been found to discriminate, tipping the scales in favor of certain races, genders or incomes, there's scant government oversight. Lawmakers in at least seven states are taking big legislative swings to regulate bias in artificial intelligence, filling a void left by Congress' inaction. These proposals are some of the first steps in a decades-long discussion over balancing the benefits of this nebulous new technology with the widely documented risks. "AI does in fact affect every part of your life whether you know it or not," said Suresh Venkatasubramanian, a Brown University professor who co-authored the White House's Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights.

Representative Ted Lieu, Democrat of California, wrote in a guest essay in The New York Times in January that he was "freaked out" by the ability of the ChatGPT chatbot to mimic human writers. Another Democrat, Representative Jake Auchincloss of Massachusetts, gave a one-minute speech -- written by a chatbot -- calling for regulation of A.I. But even as lawmakers put a spotlight on the technology, few are taking action on it. No bill has been proposed to protect individuals or thwart the development of A.I.'s potentially dangerous aspects. And legislation introduced in recent years to curb A.I. applications like facial recognition have withered in Congress.

"By failing to establish such guardrails, policymakers are creating the conditions for a race to the bottom in irresponsible A.I.," she said. In the regulatory vacuum, the European Union has taken a leadership role. In 2021, E.U. policymakers proposed a law focused on regulating the A.I. technologies that might create the most harm, such as facial recognition and applications linked to critical public infrastructure like the water supply. The measure, which is expected to be passed as soon as this year, would require makers of A.I. to conduct risk assessments of how their applications could affect health, safety and individual rights, like freedom of expression. Companies that violated the law could be fined up to 6 percent of their global revenue, which could total billions of dollars for the world's largest tech platforms.