Key U.S. Enforcement Agencies Commit to Enforcement of Existing Laws on Entities Using AI

The heads of the Federal Trade Commission, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission released a joint statement on enforcement efforts against discrimination and bias in automated systems.

“Existing legal authorities apply to the use of automated systems and innovative new technologies just as they apply to other practices.” Importantly, they adopt a broad definition of “automated systems” as a stand-in for marketing-heavy words like AI, as “software and algorithmic processes, including AI, that are used to automate workflows and help complete tasks or make decisions.”

EPIC has urged agencies to use their existing enforcement powers to address algorithmic harm through testimony, administrative complaints, and comments to agencies.