White House to Hold AI Meeting With Civil Rights, Labor Leaders

Vice President Kamala Harris will gather a group of civil rights and labor leaders Wednesday to discuss the field of artificial intelligence, which critics warn is already perpetuating discrimination and increased surveillance of American workers.

(Bloomberg) — Vice President Kamala Harris will gather a group of civil rights and labor leaders Wednesday to discuss the field of artificial intelligence, which critics warn is already perpetuating discrimination and increased surveillance of American workers.

The vice president is expected to emphasize the Biden administration’s efforts to see the rapidly emerging technology expand without exacerbating inequality and with appropriate safeguards for worker safety, according to a White House official.

The meeting is part of a broader administration push to identify and tackle concerns with artificial intelligence technologies whose use by employers and the general public has exploded.

Companies such as Amazon.com Inc. and Uber Technologies Inc. have been criticized by organized labor for using AI technology to improve performance and efficiency in ways critics say harm workplace safety.

President Joe Biden tasked staffers with developing an AI Bill of Rights, published last fall, which includes tenets to guide business leaders. Biden signed an executive order earlier this year instructing federal agencies to identify actions to ensure the use of AI advances equity, both within and outside of government.

Further actions from the executive branch are expected in the coming months, the official said.

Lawmakers in Congress have also echoed concerns about the tools’ potential to perpetuate job discrimination, particularly applications used to screen applicants or intended for use in the criminal justice system.

Leaders from the civil rights, labor, and cybersecurity sectors will join the discussion with Harris. Attendees include AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler, Leadership Conference on Civil & Human Rights CEO Maya Wiley, AARP CEO Jo Ann Jenkins, and UnidosUS CEO Janet Murguia.

White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Arati Prabhakar and Domestic Policy Council Director Neera Tanden will also join the meeting, according to the White House official.

Harris and Biden have also met with business leaders to discuss adopting new privacy and security safeguards for consumers, including at a May meeting with the heads of top AI firms, including CEOs Sam Altman of OpenAI Inc., Dario Amodei of Anthropic, Microsoft Corp.’s Satya Nadella and Sundar Pichai of Alphabet Inc.

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