Rep Pressley pushes AI Civil Rights Act, aimed to ‘especially’ protect Black, Brown and marginalized people
Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., helped advocate for the AI Civil Rights Act last week in order to prevent companies from using what Democrats describe as "biased and discriminatory AI-powered algorithms."
Pressley joined Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Reps. Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.), Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), and Summer Lee (D-Pa.) to reintroduce and advocate for the AI Civil Rights last week.
"As AI innovation grows, it is incumbent on us all to prioritize the safety, rights, and opportunity of all people — especially the Black, Brown, and marginalized communities who disproportionately bear the burden of biased and discriminatory systems," Pressley said in a statement on her website. "We cannot allow AI to be the latest chapter in America’s history of exploiting marginalized people. That is why the AI Civil Rights Act is necessary — to invest in an approach rooted in equity that safeguards all of our civil rights and liberties."
Damon Hewitt, President and Executive Director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, was quoted in the same piece declaring his organization’s pride in partnering with the politicians pushing this legislation.
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"Most AI tools are built using data that reflects generations of racial discrimination, redlining, and segregation. Algorithms built on information about a troubled past can create new models that replicate these traumas as if they should be the norm for the future," he warned. "So, increased transparency and accountability in the development and deployment of these technologies are critical steps for combating algorithmic bias. The Lawyers’ Committee has been on the front lines of this issue, litigating in the courts and leading policy debates focused on the impacts and opportunities of emerging technology for Black people and other communities of color."
On Wednesday, Pressley spoke during a House Financial Services Committee hearing, where she argued that historical impacts of racism are to blame for the disparities between communities in America.
"I represent the Massachusetts 7th — a vibrant, diverse, dynamic district and one of the most unequal in the country, where in a 3-mile radius from Cambridge, home to MIT, Harvard and AI advancement, to Roxbury, the Blackest part of my district, life expectancy drops by 30 years, and median household income by $50,000," she said.
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"Now that is the result of intentional lawmaking, which is why I believe we have to be just as intentional in undoing the harms and charting an equitable path forward. Because AI is trained on data that is already biased and by humans that have biases, it can replicate and exacerbate these harms unless we have oversight and prevent it," she argued. "We must not allow AI innovation without AI protections."
There has been robust debate over AI in recent years. While it may be counter-intuitive, artificially intelligent programs can indeed be biased if they are trained with politically biased data or given politically biased programming by its creators. However, many AI programs have been accused of a "woke" left-wing bias rather than a right-wing one. Google Gemini, in particular, faced criticism for portraying historical White figures like Founding Fathers and Vikings as Black. Other programs have been accused by users of pushing left-wing narratives as historical fact.
Fox News Digital reached out to Pressley's office for comment.