U.S. Senate Hearing on Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights

In a packed Dirksen Senate Office Building committee room, Senator Jon Ossoff (D-GA) presided over a June 13 hearing examining artificial intelligence (AI) and its potentially “profound implications” for civil rights, criminal justice, democratic processes, and privacy rights.

Why does it matter?

• The hearing is the latest in Congress’s ongoing push to understand generative AI amidst warnings from industry and thought leaders.
• The hearing is also the latest sign of an emerging consensus on the Hill that lawmakers need to move aggressively to regulate AI. This hearing featured a wide-ranging discussion of different potential approaches to regulation. When it comes to regulating AI, Congress is a hammer in search of a nail.
• The Senate Judiciary Committee continues to be active in scheduling a slate of hearings on AI. Previous hearings include “Rules for Artificial Intelligence” and “Artificial Intelligence and Intellectual Property.”

Lawmaker Attendance:

• Senator Jon Ossoff (D-GA), Chair of the Senate Committee’s Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law, held the bipartisan hearing with Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Ranking Member of the Subcommittee. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, also participated.
• The Subcommittee is made up of five additional Senators, including Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Josh Hawley (R-MO), John Kennedy (R-LA), and Peter Welch (D-VT).

Summary of Witness Testimony:

Jennifer DeStefano, a victim of a deep fake scam. DeStefano told her personal story of a scammer using her daughter’s voice to fake her kidnapping and extort DeStefano and her family for ransom.

Aleksander Madry, Cadence Design Systems Professor of Computing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a nationally recognized expert on AI and machine learning. Madry emphasized the risk of AI undermining an information ecosystem, including democratic decision making, citing AI’s broad accessibility and the ability to create realistic and persuasive content to enact scams.

Alexandra Reeve Givens, CEO of the Center for Democracy and Technology. Givens focused on AI’s impact on human rights, including the rights to liberty, privacy, freedom of expression, and equal treatment before the law. Givens made four policy recommendations:

1. Require developers of AI systems that can be used in high risk settings to disclose how their tools are developed and designed, and require testing for elements such as safety, validity, explainability, nondiscrimination, and privacy;
2. Enable frameworks for litigation under existing laws, for example, fraud and extortion, harassment, civil rights, intellectual property, and product liability;
3. Develop robust safety standards; and
4. On deep fakes specifically, support the development of detection technologies and ensure key institutions like law enforcement agencies are equipped to quickly debunk manipulated content.

Geoffrey Cain, Senior Fellow at the Foundation for American Innovation. Cain’s testimony was marked by a concern for the Chinese government’s application of generative AI and its potential use in authoritarian ways. He called on Congress to cooperate and create international AI regulation standards, penalize American executive participation in Chinese AI technology creation, and strengthen chip supply chains to prevent China’s access to American AI logic chips.

The witnesses discussed the potential benefits of AI, such as personalized education and medical care, but mostly highlighted the risks, including deep fakes and privacy violations. Witnesses urged Congress to take action to safeguard human rights. They emphasized the risks associated with AI, cautioning that it could be used to potentially undermine democratic systems as well as enable authoritarian regimes to further control their populations, and stressed the importance of implementing measures to prevent the misuse of AI technology and uphold fundamental human rights.

Other Highlights of the Hearing:

• Chairman Ossoff described AI as a “transformative technology” and highlighted its potential impact on civil rights, criminal justice system, democratic processes, privacy, and the future of work. He also referenced existential risks associated with AI, including political destabilization, weapons of mass destruction, cybersecurity threats, and unknown risks, as well as acknowledged the extraordinary potential of AI, such as cancer diagnoses, life-saving drugs, productivity growth, and technological innovation. Ossoff called for Congress to work to understand the potentials of AI to ensure its development, deployment, use, and regulation align with core values, national interest, and civil and human rights.
• Ranking Member Blackburn said that AI needs to be thoughtfully deployed and cited China as a cautionary tale. She focused on China's use of AI for surveillance purposes, and noted their ambition to be a world leader in AI, as outlined in their National AI Development Plan. At the same time, Blackburn cautioned against pausing AI development or regulating it out of existence, especially as it would give other countries, including China, a competitive advantage.
• The hearing emphasized the lack of federal privacy laws in the U.S. which could be an even bigger concern as use of AI expands. Senators also discussed Section 230 liability and the responsibility of social media platforms for the content they host and emphasized the need for legislation to protect civil liberties and consumer rights in the face of emerging technologies.
• Lawmakers expressed concern that AI might further racial, gender, or other biases and perpetuate discrimination. Chair Ossoff noted that facial recognition tools are “hardly foolproof,” focusing on a constituent in Georgia, who was wrongly jailed for six days because of a false match through facial recognition technology. Others raised the concern that AI could end up reinforcing or increasing inequality if the data that it uses to train itself reflects biases in our society that may disadvantage historically marginalized communities. 
• Senators asked the witnesses for guidance on how Congress should respond to AI-related threats to civil liberties and consumer rights. Alexandra Givens urged Congress to consider working with federal agencies that already have jurisdiction in these matters, such as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission as well as to conduct oversight to see if there are other gaps that need to be filled.

Big Picture:

As Judiciary Committee member Thom Tillis (R-NC) recently noted in the previous committee hearing, AI will be the subject of “endless” hearings on Capitol Hill as members of Congress get up to speed on AI-related policy issues. The fact that Congress is working rapidly to educate itself about AI now gives companies and other interested parties a unique opportunity to shape legislation and regulatory efforts.

Crowell & Moring, LLP will continue to monitor congressional and executive branch efforts to regulate AI. Our lawyers and public policy professionals are available to advise any clients who want to play an active role in the policy debates taking place right now or who are seeking to navigate AI-related concerns in government contracts, employment law, intellectual property, privacy, healthcare, antitrust, or other areas.