House Bipartisan AI Task Force Report Recognizes Need for AI Safeguards
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 17, 2024
Contact: Mariah Wildgen, [email protected]
WASHINGTON — Maya Wiley, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, issued the following statement on the House Bipartisan AI Task Force’s Report:
“AI is here. Yet, it has few standards or guardrails, and it can and has harmed real people. Too often, these systems inexplicably deny life-saving health care, reject mortgages that would help house deserving families, or jail people for crimes they didn’t commit — all due to faulty AI that must be regulated. Today’s report balances the opportunities for our nation’s leadership in AI innovation while recognizing the critical need for guardrails that ensure that AI systems are fair and safe for everyone. This report signals that there are advocates on both sides of the aisle in Congress who understand these real harms and that safeguards are essential to guarantee fair and safe AI for all.
“The task force illustrated the need to educate, train, and upskill students and workers so that everyone can enjoy the economic boom of AI. The report authors also make clear that data privacy and AI systems are inextricably linked, and they acknowledge the many harms that occur when our personal data are abused. There are also notable gaps. We need concrete measures to address potentially faulty AI, like regular testing, assessments, and a prohibition on biased AI. We also need specifics to combat AI-generated disinformation that undermines people’s right to vote, including methods to identify and address the use of the generative AI, manipulated media, and deepfakes.
“I’d like to personally thank House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D. N.Y., and Task Force Co-Chair Ted Lieu, D. Calif., for their leadership in ensuring that civil rights were duly considered. In drafting this report, the task force heard from a variety of experts across sectors — including myself and members of The Leadership Conference’s Center for Civil Rights and Technology Advisory Council, like Damon Hewitt, Amanda Ballantyne, and Sorelle Friedler, alongside other critical civil society voices — and its contents are better for it. We look forward to working with both sides of the aisle to translate protections into law. We hope that this report’s findings and recommendations on civil rights inform legislation in the next session.
“We all lose if AI developers and deployers move too fast and break things without regard for who or what they harm. That’s not a path towards fairness. That’s not a path towards true innovation. We will continue to hold decision makers accountable to the values outlined in this report and fight for a fair AI future for everyone.”
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights is a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 240 national organizations to promote and protect the rights of all persons in the United States. The Leadership Conference works toward an America as good as its ideals. For more information on The Leadership Conference and its member organizations, visit www.civilrights.org.
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