The ACLU of Rhode Island has a strong interest in monitoring the growing use of artificial intelligence in decision-making, especially in light of the potential impact of discrimination in its application. We are particularly concerned when these systems make unfettered decisions in critical areas of decision-making, such as housing, employment, healthcare, and access to government services -- leading to worse and often discriminatory outcomes for women, people with disabilities, and people of color, among other vulnerable groups.
As such, we raised concerns about legislation which would establish regulations to ensure the ethical development, integration, and deployment of high-risk artificial intelligence systems, which are systems that make a consequential decision in areas like employment, education, lending, housing, healthcare, and legal services. In addition to our concern about AI making discriminatory decisions, we also raised concerns that this bill needs to further strengthen protections to provide more meaningful safeguards for the public. Specifically we noted:
- The legislation prevents a private right of action by aggrieved individuals, and requires that all claims be brought solely by the Attorney General. We argued that the possibility of an aggrieved individual to bring a suit is a much stronger incentive to encourage compliance with the law.
- Under this legislation, developers whose programs create discriminatory results are granted a rebuttable presumption that they used reasonable care if the developer complied with certain provisons in the chapter, that are mostly reporting requirements. We argued this is unwarranted and creates too many loopholes for developers who implement problematic AI models.
- In a similar bill heard in Connecticut, developers are allowed a "sandbox" workshop which would help encourage the responsible deployment of artificial intelligence systems and balance the need for consumer protection, privacy and public safety. We believe that this legislation should include a similar provision.
- From our initial review of the legislation, it is unclear how enforcement will work practically.
