EPIC Challenges Closed Door Meetings of US AI Commission

EPIC has filed an open government lawsuit against the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence, following the Commission’s repeated failure to make its records and meetings open to the public. Created by Congress in 2018, the AI Commission is tasked with considering "the methods and means necessary to advance the development of" AI in the United States. EPIC filed multiple requests for access to Commission meetings and records. But the Commission has operated almost entirely in secret, even as it prepares to submit recommendations to Congress and the President. “Public access to the records and meetings of the AI Commission is vital to ensure government transparency and democratic accountability.” The Commission is chaired by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and dominated by representatives of large tech firms, including Microsoft, Amazon, and Oracle. The case is EPIC v. AI Commission, No. 19-2906 (D.D.C.).