Axing AI Order Protections Raises Concerns of Bias and Discrimination
While President Donald Trump has torn out some key guardrails protecting against bias and discrimination in AI, the administration might consider discussions about returning them, panelists representing underserved community interests said Tuesday. Independent of government action, the tech community seems open to maintaining those protections, some said during an event to discuss Trump's first 100 days in office.
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Effects of the White House's AI executive order last month, which revoked the AI order from President Joe Biden's administration (see 2310300056), remain to be seen, said Larry Gonzalez, founder of lobbying firm Raben Group. He's disappointed that Trump's move also rescinds the bias and discrimination safeguards in the Biden order. Yet he's hopeful that the Trump administration might be open to discuss the issue. Independent of the order's required safeguards, many tech companies have expressed interest in similar safeguards, he said. Tech "was very well represented during the inauguration" and has a responsibility to voice support for addressing issues the Trump executive order axed.
Brent Wilkes, senior vice president-institutional development at the Hispanic Federation, said the Biden administration's order "put out some pretty good guardrails -- common sense." While the U.S. is in an AI competition with China, AI companies likely won't see such bias and discrimination issues as something to be left by the roadside, he said.
The event, held at NCTA's Washington headquarters, was organized by ALLvanza; the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council; LGBT Tech; and OCA – Asian Pacific American Advocates.
NCTA President Michael Powell said government needs to embrace spectrum sharing more. Wresting spectrum from DOD is a long and difficult path, and sharing is an easier route, he said.
Wilkes also addressed the FCC's ending diversity, equity and inclusion policies (see 2501210070), saying this could have "dramatic" effects on the agency's initiatives to tackle digital redlining and equitable broadband access, but companies also have incentives to not discriminate.
Allen Gutierrez, president of consultancy MCA Group, said that with relatively few states having had their final BEAD proposals approved, there's still ample opportunity for the Trump administration to make changes. He said some of the rules, such as those related to climate change, would likely be dropped.
U.S. Black Chambers CEO Ronald Busby said hyperscaler data centers have benefited from an "old, outmoded methodology" for funding universal service and could legitimately be required to contribute to USF.
Several minutes of the panel were spent on the broader issue of being included or excluded from policy talks. Gutierrez said there needs to be "a wake-up call" to organizations and nonprofits about building relationships and contacts on both sides of the political aisle. Some Hispanic organizations "now feel they're not going to be at the table" after the change in party control, he said.
At the same time, there's also a need for outreach from the administration and lawmakers to hear from groups that have constituents in minority communities before making decisions, Gonzalez said. He said the first Trump administration made a show of trying to be inclusive and get broad feedback on issues, but that ended quickly.