President Joe Biden unveiled a new AI Bill of Rights that outlines five protections Americans should have in the age of artificial intelligence. The bill aims to make AI more accountable to avert harm from the rise of artificial intelligence, including policies to protect personal data and limit surveillance.
According to the draft law, the five safeguards are: Americans should be protected from insecure or ineffective systems; algorithms should not be discriminatory and systems should be used fairly; citizens should have their data at their disposal and be protected from abusive data practices with built-in safeguards; citizens should also be aware when an automated system is used against them and understand how it affects the results; and people should always be able to withdraw from AI systems in favor of a human alternative and have access to solutions when problems arise.
The AI Bill of Rights, a blueprint for how to achieve these goals, was proposed a year ago by the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), a US government department that advises the president on science and technology issues. It provides practical guidance to government agencies and a call for action for technology companies, researchers, and civil society to work together to establish these protections.
The Blueprint for the AI Bill of Rights, notably, does not outline concrete enforcement actions, but rather serves as a White House call to action for the United States government to protect digital and civil rights in an AI-fueled world. This supports critics’ claims that the plan lacks teeth and that the U.S. needs even stricter AI regulations.
The sources for this piece include an article in TechnologyReview.
