Unpacking How Long-Standing Civil Rights Protections Apply to Emerging Technologies like AI at BenCon 2024
A panel of experts discuss the application of civil rights protections to emerging AI technologies, highlighting potential harms, the need for inclusive teams, and the importance of avoiding technology-centric solutions to social problems.
We closed our AI-focused main stage sessions with Unpacking How Long-Standing Civil Rights Protections Apply to Emerging Technologies like AI, which brought Elizabeth Laird, director of the Equity in Civic Technology Initiative at the Center for Democracy and Technology, Henry Claypool, technology policy consultant, and Clarence Okoh, senior attorney at the Georgetown Law Center on Privacy and Technology together in conversation.
The panelists provided context on the judicial, policy, and regulatory perspectives for civil rights protections. They also shared examples of data sharing and algorithmic systems that can cause harm, including predictive policing using student data and functional assessments for Medicaid services. They closed with advice to government administrators, including forming an inclusive team with diverse backgrounds, finding civil rights experts in your state’s Attorney General Office and civil society organizations, and not relying on technology to solve social problems. They urged individual and collective action to ensure that civil rights are protected as new technologies are developed.
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