Kairos Action

Leader Schumer: We demand real leadership on AI that works for us, not a gimme for Big Tech CEOs.

On May 15th, Senate Majority Leader Schumer released his “Roadmap for Artificial Intelligence Policy in the US.” This 31-page report was developed in nine closed-door meetings drawn out over an entire year, in consultation with what looks like every single Big Tech CEO and all their friends, and a few token representatives from organized labor and academia.1

This report is the opposite of what we need from the government. And that is tragic, because the time they wasted on this instead of actually governing Artificial Intelligence (AI) could not be more precious. We need everybody to tell the senators whom we elected that they need to move faster and in accordance with our values. 

Tell Senator Schumer: We need you to govern. Pass real laws about AI’s impact, instead of toothless industry-led reports. 

Schumer’s roadmap leaves out those of us who need AI protections most: Brown and Black people, working class people, and those at the frontlines of the climate crisis. Schumer and his co-authors mention climate zero times, mention worker organizing once, and terms like race, inequity, and inequality are nowhere in the entire paper.2

But huh, who would have thunk, the report’s priorities closely mirror those of the industry bigwigs who were invited into the room. The “AI Innovation” and ‘National Security” sections are comprehensive, filled with little treats of funding and support for the AI industry and their military buddies, and are conspicuously more specific than the other sections. As if we needed more leniency for AI companies already run amok, or more tech support for a military already far overfunded compared to our healthcare, schools, and housing. 

It stings even more to realize that, while Schumer was holding these closed-door free-for-alls for corporate executives, these same corporations were spewing out products in a non-existent regulatory environment that have already caused serious harms. From harassment of women and girls to turbocharged workplace discrimination to job insecurity, unregulated AI is upending our lives and making a clear case for why we need AI protections ASAP.3 Yet instead of getting a jumpstart by passing any of over 50 previously introduced AI bills or using the White House’s AI blueprint to guide legislation, Schumer wasted our time on this milquetoast gift to Big Tech at taxpayers’ expense.4

Sign our letter to Senator Schumer: We demand real leadership on AI that works for us, not a gimme for Big Tech CEOs.

As constituents, voters, and users of the digital products these companies continue to develop, we deserve a say in how they are built and by what rules they must abide. We demand a government that works for us, as intended, to ensure AI serves the good of our communities instead of serving corporate profit at our expense. Sign our petition if you agree.

Petition:

Dear Senator Schumer,

We are happy to see you are addressing potential pitfalls of AI with your legislative roadmap. However, the material you just released falls far short of what we need. 

We demand AI policies that: 

  1. Protect workers’ rights and strengthen collective bargaining as a tool to ensure that workplace AI serves workers’ needs first and foremost. Being “consulted” in the process, as you suggest in the roadmap, is insulting and insufficient. Workers must be centered in the tech that affects their lives. 
  2. Address the devastating toll AI has on our water supply, energy grids, and climate goals as it continues to expand. Current trends are extremely worrisome.5 We must have federal leadership in ensuring that AI development does not harm our communities’ needs for a sustainable energy supply, a livable planet, or potable water. 
  3. Center AI’s impact on civil rights, and mandate transparency and testing for disparate impact before AI products are released. AI is already accelerating existing inequalities through practices like AI-enhanced surveillance, predictive policing, and discriminatory algorithms.6 The roadmap you presented only addresses AI’s impact on marginalized communities negligibly.
  4. Work to regulate AI instead of giving a free handout to obscenely rich and unaccountable technology corporations. 

We look forward to stronger leadership from you and the Senate for the remainder of this legislative term. Time is ticking, and this proposal lacks the policy protections we need.

Signed,

Kairos Supporters   

Sources: 

  1. “Driving US Innovation in Artificial Intelligence: A Roadmap for Artificial Intelligence Policy in the US Senate,” The Bipartisan Senate AI Working Group, May 2024.
  2. Ibid
  3. “Teen Girls Confront an Epidemic of Deepfake Nudes in Schools,” The New York Times, Apr. 8, 2024;  “AI shows clear racial bias when used for job recruiting, new tests reveal,” Mashable, Mar. 8, 2024; “The Silent Shift: How AI Stealthily Reshapes Our Work And Future,” Forbes, Apr. 3, 2024.  
  4. “Federal AI Legislation,” Institute for Data, Democracy & Politics (IDDP), Jun. 14, 2023; “Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights,” The White House, Oct. 2022 . 
  5. “How Bad Is A.I. for the Climate?” The New York Times, May 6, 2024. 
  6. “Systemic Racism in AI: How Algorithms Replicate White Supremacy and Injustice,” Teen Vogue, Sep. 19, 2023.

Leader Schumer:

We demand real leadership on AI that works for us, not a gimme for Big Tech CEOs.

This report is the opposite of what we need from the government. And that is tragic, because the time they wasted on this instead of actually governing Artificial Intelligence (AI) could not be more precious. We need everybody to tell the senators whom we elected that they need to move faster and in accordance with our values. 

 

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On May 15th, Senate Majority Leader Schumer released his “Roadmap for Artificial Intelligence Policy in the US.” This 31-page report was developed in nine closed-door meetings drawn out over an entire year, in consultation with what looks like every single Big Tech CEO and all their friends, and a few token representatives from organized labor and academia.1

This report is the opposite of what we need from the government. And that is tragic, because the time they wasted on this instead of actually governing Artificial Intelligence (AI) could not be more precious. We need everybody to tell the senators whom we elected that they need to move faster and in accordance with our values. 

Tell Senator Schumer: We need you to govern. Pass real laws about AI’s impact, instead of toothless industry-led reports. 

Schumer’s roadmap leaves out those of us who need AI protections most: Brown and Black people, working class people, and those at the frontlines of the climate crisis. Schumer and his co-authors mention climate zero times, mention worker organizing once, and terms like race, inequity, and inequality are nowhere in the entire paper.2

But huh, who would have thunk, the report’s priorities closely mirror those of the industry bigwigs who were invited into the room. The “AI Innovation” and ‘National Security” sections are comprehensive, filled with little treats of funding and support for the AI industry and their military buddies, and are conspicuously more specific than the other sections. As if we needed more leniency for AI companies already run amok, or more tech support for a military already far overfunded compared to our healthcare, schools, and housing. 

It stings even more to realize that, while Schumer was holding these closed-door free-for-alls for corporate executives, these same corporations were spewing out products in a non-existent regulatory environment that have already caused serious harms. From harassment of women and girls to turbocharged workplace discrimination to job insecurity, unregulated AI is upending our lives and making a clear case for why we need AI protections ASAP.3 Yet instead of getting a jumpstart by passing any of over 50 previously introduced AI bills or using the White House’s AI blueprint to guide legislation, Schumer wasted our time on this milquetoast gift to Big Tech at taxpayers’ expense.4

Sign our letter to Senator Schumer: We demand real leadership on AI that works for us, not a gimme for Big Tech CEOs.

As constituents, voters, and users of the digital products these companies continue to develop, we deserve a say in how they are built and by what rules they must abide. We demand a government that works for us, as intended, to ensure AI serves the good of our communities instead of serving corporate profit at our expense. Sign our petition if you agree.

Petition:

Dear Senator Schumer,

We are happy to see you are addressing potential pitfalls of AI with your legislative roadmap. However, the material you just released falls far short of what we need. 

We demand AI policies that: 

  1. Protect workers’ rights and strengthen collective bargaining as a tool to ensure that workplace AI serves workers’ needs first and foremost. Being “consulted” in the process, as you suggest in the roadmap, is insulting and insufficient. Workers must be centered in the tech that affects their lives. 
  2. Address the devastating toll AI has on our water supply, energy grids, and climate goals as it continues to expand. Current trends are extremely worrisome.5 We must have federal leadership in ensuring that AI development does not harm our communities’ needs for a sustainable energy supply, a livable planet, or potable water. 
  3. Center AI’s impact on civil rights, and mandate transparency and testing for disparate impact before AI products are released. AI is already accelerating existing inequalities through practices like AI-enhanced surveillance, predictive policing, and discriminatory algorithms.6 The roadmap you presented only addresses AI’s impact on marginalized communities negligibly.
  4. Work to regulate AI instead of giving a free handout to obscenely rich and unaccountable technology corporations. 

We look forward to stronger leadership from you and the Senate for the remainder of this legislative term. Time is ticking, and this proposal lacks the policy protections we need.

Signed,

Kairos Supporters   

Sources: 

  1. “Driving US Innovation in Artificial Intelligence: A Roadmap for Artificial Intelligence Policy in the US Senate,” The Bipartisan Senate AI Working Group, May 2024.
  2. Ibid
  3. “Teen Girls Confront an Epidemic of Deepfake Nudes in Schools,” The New York Times, Apr. 8, 2024;  “AI shows clear racial bias when used for job recruiting, new tests reveal,” Mashable, Mar. 8, 2024; “The Silent Shift: How AI Stealthily Reshapes Our Work And Future,” Forbes, Apr. 3, 2024.  
  4. “Federal AI Legislation,” Institute for Data, Democracy & Politics (IDDP), Jun. 14, 2023; “Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights,” The White House, Oct. 2022 . 
  5. “How Bad Is A.I. for the Climate?” The New York Times, May 6, 2024. 
  6. “Systemic Racism in AI: How Algorithms Replicate White Supremacy and Injustice,” Teen Vogue, Sep. 19, 2023.

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