EPIC, as part of the open government case EPIC v. AI Commission, has obtained additional records from the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence. The documents include emails from Commission chair and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt illustrating Schmidt’s close relationship with members of Congress. The records also reveal that the ethics disclosure form Schmidt filed with the Commission—a document that usually tops out at a dozen pages—was 38 pages long. EPIC’s FOIA request was recently highlighted in an American Prospect article on Schmidt’s role in Rebellion Defense, “a shadowy defense startup” that markets AI systems to the Defense Department. EPIC has twice prevailed in its open government case against the AI Commission, forcing the Commission to hold public meetings and disclose thousands of pages of records. In recent comments, EPIC called on the AI Commission to "advise Congress, as the nation's highest policymaking authority, to establish government-wide principles and safeguards for the use and development of AI." The case is EPIC v. AI Commission, No. 19-2906 (D.D.C.).
EPIC Equal Justice Works Fellow Ben Winters testified today before the Washington Legislature in support of a bill to establish transparency and accountability around state automated decision-making and ban certain dangerous applications of AI. Under SB5116, public and regularly updated algorithmic accountability reports of state uses of automated decision-making systems will be completed, AI-enabled profiling that produces significant legal effects will be prohibited, and other baseline protections will be enacted. EPIC has advocated for algorithmic transparency for several years, has called to ban face surveillance, and tracks use of AI in the Criminal Justice System.
The Massachusetts Legislature has enacted a new law that prevents Massachusetts transit authorities from disclosing personal information related to individuals' transit system use for non-transit purposes and requires police obtain a search warrant before accessing personal data collected by the authorities. The law resolves many of the issues raised in Commonwealth v. Zachery, a case pending before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in which the government obtained, without a warrant, location data generated by the Defendant's use of a Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority transit card. EPIC filed an amicus brief in the case. EPIC argued that disclosure of data collected by the transit authority should be limited to the purposes for which it was collected. EPIC further stated that "if the government seeks to access Charlie Card data for investigative purposes, it must do so with a warrant." The new law adopts both the disclosure limitation and warrant requirement that EPIC advocated for in its amicus brief to the Court.
