AI is the unavoidable topic of the day. In today’s episode of The Fair Deal Democrats podcast, I discuss two laws that we need Congress to pass today.
First, we must forbid “machine output from being presented as human.” I’m quoting from this essay by Gary Marcus, published on his substack page earlier this week. “No use of the first person by chatbots, and no more deepfakes of living people’s voices and images without express consent,” with a free speech exception for obvious parodies.
Second, we need a federal law protecting our biometric information. This includes fingerprints, facial geometry, iris and retina scans, and voiceprints. It is crazy that we have gone this far in the big data era without adequate protections for our privacy. Scammers are already having a field day with access to this information.
This law must require real consent before the collection of the data, in plain language, with an explanation of why the data is being collected, and how long it will be stored. Furthermore, it should require data minimization, the collection only of the minimum amount of data needed and a requirement to destroy the information when it is no longer needed.
This law must have a private right of action. This means that when a data breach occurs, the individual affected can sue for damages, instead of relying on slow-moving Attorneys General subject to regulatory capture.
Enjoy the episode! We’d love to hear from you.
