The U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division recently held its fourth interagency convening to promote equity in artificial intelligence (AI), marking the one-year anniversary of President Biden’s Executive Order 14110. The event gathered senior officials from federal agencies to discuss efforts to prevent algorithmic bias, protect civil rights, and ensure that AI-driven technologies align with democratic principles. Highlights included discussions on AI auditing, technology-enabled crime, and new resources for employers and educators to promote inclusion. Agencies committed to ongoing collaboration to safeguard the public from AI-related harm while leveraging AI for social and economic progress.
The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division on Wednesday convened principals of federal agency civil rights offices and senior government officials to foster AI and civil rights coordination.
This was the fourth such convening by the Civil Rights Division, coming up on the one-year anniversary of President Biden’s Executive Order on the Safe, Secure and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence (EO 14110), which tasks the Civil Rights Division with coordinating federal agencies to use our authorities to prevent and address unlawful discrimination and other harms that may result from the use of AI in programs and benefits, while preserving the potential social, medical and other advances AI may spur.
The convening highlighted a recent Justice Department symposium on AI focusing on combating technology-enabled crime — including crime facilitated by AI. The Civil Rights Division’s Chief Technologist presented remarks at the symposium, and the event included discussion of the department’s role in negotiating the first international agreement providing a shared baseline for using AI in a way that is consistent with respect for human rights, democracy and the rule of law.
To strengthen the division’s efforts to ensure equity in AI, the Civil Rights Division recently retained a Chief Technologist, Dr. Laura Edelson. She is helping to systematically expand the division’s AI enforcement capacity and to increase the efficiency of its operations by harnessing technological modernization.
At the convening, agency technologists and researchers, including Dr. Edelson, discussed the role of auditing in preventing, investigating, monitoring, and remedying algorithmic bias. Auditing is used to verify that algorithms generate accurate results, as opposed to reflecting historical bias against protected classes.
Agencies discussed their efforts to safeguard civil rights through robust enforcement, policy initiatives, rulemaking and ongoing education and outreach. These accomplishments include:
- A Federal Trade Commission report finding that large social media and video streaming companies engaged in vast surveillance of their users, including kids and teens, with insufficient privacy controls;
- An Equal Employment Opportunity Commission report highlighting barriers to equal opportunity in the high tech workforce and sector and calling for concerted efforts to address discriminatory barriers;
- A Department of Labor (DOL) sponsored resource to help employers consider disability inclusion and accessibility in AI hiring technologies; and
- A Department of Education guide that reminds developers who design for education with AI that they share responsibility with educators for advancing equity and protecting students’ civil rights.
The interagency convening’s attendees included representatives from the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Interior, Labor, Transportation and Treasury, as well as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Federal Trade Commission and Social Security Administration. Director Naomi Barry-Perez of the DOL’s Civil Rights Center and Department of Transportation Civil Rights Director Irene Marion were in attendance to provide updates for their agencies.
All participants pledged to continue collaboration to protect the American public against any harm that might result from the increased use and reliance on AI, algorithms and other advanced technologies. The agencies also agreed to partner on external stakeholder engagement around their collective efforts to advance equity and civil rights in AI.
For more information, see the Civil Rights Division’s webpage, which centralizes content related to the division’s work on AI and civil rights. This resource provides information about how advanced technologies can result in unlawful discrimination and what the division can do to assist victims of discrimination. The webpage also includes key resources on AI and civil rights from enforcement agencies throughout the federal government.
Updated October 11, 2024 Office of Public Affairs
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Top 5 Critical Questions Republicans Are Asking About the Justice Department’s AI Equity Efforts
- How can the Justice Department ensure that AI regulation doesn’t stifle innovation and economic growth, especially for American businesses, while prioritizing civil rights?
- What safeguards are in place to prevent federal agencies from overreaching their authority through AI oversight and audits, potentially creating unnecessary bureaucracy and burdens on private enterprises?
- How does the administration address concerns that focusing heavily on “algorithmic bias” could lead to politically motivated censorship or interfere with private sector hiring practices?
- Given the Biden administration’s Executive Order on AI, how does the government plan to balance national security needs with protecting civil liberties, without compromising U.S. competitiveness in the global AI race?
- What steps will the administration take to ensure that AI-related rulemaking isn’t unduly influenced by partisan agendas or ideological views, particularly in education, labor, and technology sectors?
Sources: Justice.gov, Midtown Tribune
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