(Source: MIRS.news, Published 04/29/2024) The Michigan Civil Rights Commission Monday passed a resolution asking for a task force to evaluate the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in police work, but that was just the "tip of the iceberg."
Michigan Department of Civil Rights Executive Director John Johnson Jr. said AI could end up having an inadvertent discriminatory effect on people protected under the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act (ELCRA), especially in the areas of employment, housing, finance and law enforcement.
"The department sees artificial intelligence as an emerging civil rights issue," Johnson said.
He said AI was already in use to determine who was being selected for a rental agreement and who could get loans in financing, through not including certain criteria that prevent the algorithm from excluding people named under ELCRA.
For employment, he wanted to make sure names were not determining if the AI program was weeding them out of the job pool.
"If your name is Kwame or Keisha, you may not be included in a recruiting pool because algorithms are excluding folks with those names, as opposed to names that are more common like mine, John," Johnson said.
The issue of AI discrimination in housing and finances is scheduled to be talked about on June 12 at the 2024 Civil Rights Summit On Fair Housing.
The department plans to make sure AI programs put together by businesses keep an eye on equity for everyone.
"AI is coming. It's here, and we know it has some very positive aspects. We just want to make sure that some of the negative aspects of it are also examined," Johnson said.
As far as today's action, the commission passed a resolution asking for transparency and "the responsible research approach" for law enforcement using AI.
The commission asked Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to convene a task force for AI and policing, as well as establishing a permanent commission to make sure there was no bias or discrimination.
The resolution also asked the Attorney General's Office to create a resource to protect anyone impacted through the use of AI.
The last piece of the resolution asked law enforcement to review any use of AI tools to make sure there was no discrimination.
The Civil Rights Department has not received any AI-related complaints, but Johnson said people may not know what AI-related discrimination looks like.
"I think this is the beginning, but we do see it as an issue," Johnson said. "No one's going to come and say, 'Oh, I was a victim of AI' in terms of policing. We're going to have to determine that ourselves once we get in to look at the facts," he said.
