EPIC Obtains Internal AI Commission Emails From Schmidt, Others

January 20, 2021

EPIC, as part of the open government case EPIC v. AI Commission, has obtained additional records from the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence. The documents include emails from Commission chair and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt illustrating Schmidt’s close relationship with members of Congress. The records also reveal that the ethics disclosure form Schmidt filed with the Commission—a document that usually tops out at a dozen pages—was 38 pages long. EPIC’s FOIA request was recently highlighted in an American Prospect article on Schmidt’s role in Rebellion Defense, “a shadowy defense startup” that markets AI systems to the Defense Department. EPIC has twice prevailed in its open government case against the AI Commission, forcing the Commission to hold public meetings and disclose thousands of pages of records. In recent comments, EPIC called on the AI Commission to "advise Congress, as the nation's highest policymaking authority, to establish government-wide principles and safeguards for the use and development of AI." The case is EPIC v. AI Commission, No. 19-2906 (D.D.C.).

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