Consumer Reports supports the intent of SB 2, a bill with many provisions aimed at increasing transparency and tackling bias in predictive artificial intelligence systems used in high stakes decisions.
CR agrees that legislation is needed to patch Connecticut’s consumer protection laws and civil rights laws for the AI era. While these laws no doubt apply to AI products, the “black box” nature of these systems and their ability to partially stand in for human decision-makers with intent make cases difficult to bring in practice.
Particularly key are the bill’s consumer rights: the right to information before AI is used to help make a consequential decision, the right to a post-decision explanation, the right to review personal data and correct inaccuracies, and the right to appeal.
However, in order for this bill to fulfill its intended purpose, amendments are necessary.
The changes CR calls for include:
- Fixing loopholes in definition of ‘high-risk artificial intelligence system’ and ‘substantial factor’ so that companies cannot escape responsibility
- Strengthening antidiscrimination protections by prohibiting algorithmic discrimination. Short of that, we recommend removing the rebuttable presumption.
- Provide necessary additional information in pre-use notice
- Remove exemption from consumers’ right to appeal
- Remove overbroad exemptions and remove cure provision
- Strengthen enforcement
For more, see the attached PDF