{"id":50051,"date":"2022-07-01T12:30:34","date_gmt":"2022-07-01T16:30:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/?post_type=issue&p=50051"},"modified":"2025-06-17T17:07:13","modified_gmt":"2025-06-17T21:07:13","slug":"accountability-in-artificial-intelligence","status":"publish","type":"issue","link":"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/racial-justice\/accountability-in-artificial-intelligence","title":{"rendered":"Accountability in Artificial Intelligence"},"parent":46673,"menu_order":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-50051","issue","type-issue","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":{"featured-image":210880,"intro":"The Racial Justice Program engages in litigation and advocacy to challenge artificial intelligence\u2019s (AI) power to preserve and exacerbate systemic racism and other inequities, and to work toward building more equitable systems, particularly in the areas of employment, housing, and credit.","what-you-need-to-know":[{"highlighted":"99% ","description":"Ninety-nine percent of Fortune 500 companies use automated systems in the hiring process."},{"highlighted":"$6 billion","description":"The federal government invested over $6 billion in AI in 2021, and that number is expected to grow through 2026. "},{"highlighted":"36%","description":"Thirty-six percent of companies surveyed in a 2021 report had already experienced challenges or negative business impacts due to AI bias."}],"promo":{"description":"","button":"","url":""},"faq":{"description":"","faq-items":[{"title":"Why is Artificial Intelligence (AI) biased?","content":"AI is built by humans and deployed in systems and institutions that have been marked by entrenched discrimination \u2014 from the criminal legal system, to housing, to the workplace, to our financial systems. Bias is often baked into the outcomes the AI is asked to predict. Likewise, bias is in the data used to train the AI<\/a> \u2014 data that is often discriminatory or unrepresentative for people of color, women, or other marginalized groups \u2014 and can rear its head throughout the AI\u2019s design, development, implementation, and use. The tech industry\u2019s lack of representation of people who understand and can work to address the potential harms of these technologies only exacerbates this problem."},{"title":"How does AI discriminate in housing?","content":"AI systems used to evaluate potential tenants rely on court records and other datasets that have their own built-in biases that reflect systemic racism, sexism, and ableism, and are notoriously full of errors. People are regularly denied housing, despite their ability to pay rent, because tenant screening algorithms deem them ineligible or unworthy. These algorithms use data such as eviction and criminal histories, which reflect longstanding disparities in housing and the criminal legal system. People of color seeking loans to purchase homes or refinance have also been overcharged by millions thanks to AI tools used by lenders, and automated valuation models trained on discriminatory data further exacerbate longstanding undervaluations in home appraisals in communities of color."},{"title":"How does AI discriminate in hiring?","content":"Many employers now use AI-driven tools<\/a> at virtually every stage of the hiring process, from attracting applicants to screening and interviewing job seekers, and these tools pose enormous risks for discrimination against people with disabilities, people of color, and other protected groups. Rather than help eliminate discriminatory practices, AI has worsened them \u2014 hampering the economic security of marginalized groups that have long dealt with systemic discrimination."}]},"featured-stories":[{"image":99570,"title":"How Policy Hidden in an Algorithm is Threatening Families in This Pennsylvania County","content-type":"news_and_commentary","last-updated":null,"description":"The ACLU and Human Rights Data Analysis Group evaluate one of the first algorithmic tools used in the child welfare system.","url":"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/podcast\/google-algorithmic-oppression-ep-142"}],"latest-stories":[{"image":135222,"title":"How Artificial Intelligence Might Prevent You From Getting Hired","type":"news_and_commentary","url":"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/news\/racial-justice\/how-artificial-intelligence-might-prevent-you-from-getting-hired"},{"image":134763,"title":"Don't Let the Math Distract You: Together, We Can Fight Algorithmic Injustice","type":"news_and_commentary","url":"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/news\/criminal-law-reform\/we-can-fight-algorithmic-injustice"},{"image":53447,"title":"The Federal Government Should Not Waste the Opportunity to Address Algorithmic Discrimination","type":"news_and_commentary","url":"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/news\/racial-justice\/the-federal-government-should-not-waste-the-opportunity-to-address-algorithmic-discrimination"},{"image":46189,"title":"Three Key Problems with the Government's Use of a Flawed Facial Recognition Service","type":"news_and_commentary","url":"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/news\/privacy-technology\/three-key-problems-with-the-governments-use-of-a-flawed-facial-recognition-service"}],"whats-at-stake":{"title":"What's at Stake","description":"Artificial intelligence systems are reshaping and influencing core social domains that impact our daily lives, from the criminal legal system and education, to health care and beyond. Artificial intelligence refers to computer models, or algorithms, that mimic the cognitive functions of the human mind, such as learning and problem-solving. AI is widely used for automated decision making \u2014 analyzing massive amounts of data, finding correlations and then making predictions about future outcomes. For example, employers use AI systems to determine who to advertise job opportunities to and who to hire, and housing providers use AI to screen potential tenants. So when AI systems are developed in ways that do not adequately take into account existing racism, sexism, and other inequities, built-in algorithmic bias can undermine predictive decisions and result in invisible but very real discrimination. As these systems are deployed, they exacerbate existing disparities and create new roadblocks for already marginalized groups.\r\n\r\nAI is built by humans, and too often bias can appear in its design, development, and implementation. Establishing laws and regulations that mandate robust auditing for equity, transparency, and accountability, alongside litigation to stop and remedy civil rights violations, and direct engagement with technology companies can help guarantee equity.\r\n\r\nThe Racial Justice Program strives to challenge AI\u2019s power to preserve and exacerbate systemic racism and other inequities. In coalition with ACLU affiliates in each state, other civil rights groups, and local advocates, we advocate for better laws and policies and support grassroots movements to work towards building more equitable AI systems, particularly in the areas of employment, housing, and credit."},"actions":"","drupal-id":"","is_hidden_issue":""},"yoast_head":"\nAmerican Civil Liberties Union<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Racial Justice Program engages in litigation and advocacy to challenge artificial intelligence\u2019s (AI) power to preserve and exacerbate systemic racism and other inequities, and to work toward building more equitable systems, particularly in the areas of employment, housing, and credit.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Accountability in Artificial Intelligence | American Civil Liberties Union\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Racial Justice Program engages in litigation and advocacy to challenge artificial intelligence\u2019s (AI) power to preserve and exacerbate systemic racism and other inequities, and to work toward building more equitable systems, particularly in the areas of employment, housing, and credit.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/racial-justice\/accountability-in-artificial-intelligence\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"American Civil Liberties Union\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-06-17T21:07:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@aclu\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/racial-justice\/accountability-in-artificial-intelligence\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/racial-justice\/accountability-in-artificial-intelligence\",\"name\":\"Accountability in Artificial Intelligence | American Civil Liberties Union\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-07-01T16:30:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-17T21:07:13+00:00\",\"description\":\"The Racial Justice Program engages in litigation and advocacy to challenge artificial intelligence\u2019s (AI) power to preserve and exacerbate systemic racism and other inequities, and to work toward building more equitable systems, particularly in the areas of employment, housing, and credit.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/racial-justice\/accountability-in-artificial-intelligence\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/\",\"name\":\"American Civil Liberties Union\",\"description\":\"The ACLU dares to create a more perfect union \u2014 beyond one person, party, or side. 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