EPIC, Coalition Oppose Maryland AI Working Group Bill With No Public Interest Representatives

EPIC joined eight other national and Maryland-based public interest groups in sending a letter to a Maryland Senate committee opposing a bill that would establish an AI working group with no public interest representatives.

The bill, H.B. 956, includes representatives from several industry sectors, including real estate, e-commerce, and biotechnology, but lacks voices from labor, civil rights, consumer protection, or privacy groups. EPIC expressed concerns that an unbalanced working group such as this one will result in insurmountable bias against meaningful AI regulation.

In addition to the coalition letter, EPIC testified on the bill in front of the Senate Finance Committee today, expressing concern over the makeup of the working group and cautioning that a working group bill cannot stand in for substantive AI regulations.

EPIC has supported other AI regulations in Maryland this session and urges the Legislature to prioritize placing commonsense guardrails on the discriminatory use of automated decision systems instead of establishing a working group.