AI Can Generate Big Liabilities

Consumers who have been steamrollered by algorithms – e.g., unfairly denied credit or the opportunity to rent an apartment – have been looking to class action lawyers and the courts for redress, and in many cases finding it. A post from AI Daily summarizes the risks in employing AI for such purposes and suggests some best practices to avoid litigation or improve one’s position if litigation ensues. This post includes links to a number of sources that go deeper into various facets of the issue, including a news source that reports how tenant screening services have been “plagued by inaccuracies that have generated millions of dollars in lawsuits and fines,” and a sharply worded FTC document from earlier this year, entitled “Using Artificial Intelligence and Algorithms.” It discusses how provisions of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 could trigger obligations, which, if dodged by “cavalier use of AI,” could bring on an FTC enforcement action.