Antidiscrimination Law x AI Convening
The Antidiscrimination Law x AI convening sits at the intersection of the seismic reassessment and redefinition of civil rights law and the fundamental challenge that the advance of AI presents. Advances in artificial intelligence promise to transform the operation of many institutions, from law enforcement agencies and various governmental programs to employers, schools, housing providers, and medical practitioners. Such advances in technology will have far-reaching implications, for good or for ill, with respect to equality based on race and other characteristics. Already, many controversies have arisen at the intersection of technology and antidiscrimination law. Researchers have shown that algorithms tend to perpetuate or amplify racial inequality. Policymakers and litigators have sought—with varying degrees of success—to apply longstanding legal approaches to the new technologies.
As AI rapidly evolves and is increasingly adopted across sectors, antidiscrimination law—including the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Voting Rights Act of 1965, and Fair Housing Act of 1968—is also experiencing a reassessment and redefinition. Amidst demographic and political shifts, the future of antidiscrimination law is uncertain. Courts are increasingly adopting a colorblind interpretation of existing civil rights laws, jettisoning the emphasis on group inequality that long informed such laws.
For antidiscrimination law to meet the challenges presented by the advent and advance of AI, interdisciplinary expertise and cross-sector collaboration will be necessary. This convening will facilitate a level-setting conversation and exchange among industry experts, computer scientists, civil rights practitioners, and legal academics. Our broad aims are to surface the issues that AI presents for antidiscrimination law and policy, explore the limitations of the law’s current approach to equality and discrimination, and consider how AI may ease or hinder investigations, as well as change standards of proof.
More specifically, we will explore: how civil rights law will or should evolve in response to an AI-enabled technological landscape; whether AI will change how civil rights law conceptualizes and proves discrimination; how AI will be used to determine which groups are eligible for the protection of antidiscrimination law; how AI will be used in determining compliance with antidiscrimination law; and how to facilitate an exchange of expertise among communities with different expertise. The convening will set the parameters for future conversations to articulate a research agenda and ultimately develop policy recommendations.
The convening is co-hosted by the Stanford Center for Racial Justice (Stanford Law School), the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race & Justice (Harvard Law School), and the Multiracial Democracy Project (George Washington Law School).
