U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Chair Charlotte Burrows and leaders from three other federal agencies recently vowed to use existing laws to keep artificial intelligence from harming the public, showing that the federal regulators have the tools to take action and giving employers a hint of how the EEOC may approach regulating AI.
The EEOC, the Federal Trade Commission, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the U.S. Department of Justice have broad jurisdiction over consumer protection, unfair business practices, civil rights, and the workplace. Their alliance should serve as both an awareness-raising campaign and a warning to employers and AI vendors, experts said.
“I think we’re beyond doubling down. I think it is abundantly clear, and it should be to every employer, that the administration across the agencies are aware of AI, using the tools in their toolbox aggressively to address AI,” said David Fortney, co-founder of FortneyScott. “The agencies are there, they have enforcement authority, people need to be aware of it.”
Here, experts lay out some of their takeaways from the multi-agency announcement.