AI Caucus Co-Chairs: Facebook Should Clarify Plans to Use AI, Address Bias and Privacy Concerns

Apr 13, 2018
Press Release

WASHINGTON - During congressional testimony this week, Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg stated repeatedly that artificial intelligence (AI) technology will allow the platform to better combat the problem of disseminating fake news, hate speech, terrorist propaganda and false ads.

According to reporting in the Washington Post, Zuckerberg mentioned AI more than 30 times. 

Congressman John K. Delaney (MD-6) and Congressman Pete Olson (TX-22), the co-chairs of the AI Caucus, release the following statement

“Given that millions of Americans are Facebook users, the company’s conduct, ad policies and privacy measures are of national importance. We’ve all become painfully aware of just how important the content that gets posted on Facebook can be. In his testimony this week, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg made it very clear that AI will be an integral part of Facebook’s future and perhaps an instrumental part of its efforts to improve the platform. 

“While AI can be utilized to help Facebook and other entities tackle problems on a massive scale, we also need to make sure that AI is implemented in an unbiased way. As the Co-Chairs of the AI Caucus, we believe that Facebook should provide more information to Congress on how they plan to use AI and what steps they are taking to make sure that AI is being used in an unbiased manner that also respects users’ privacy. 

“More broadly, Mr. Zuckerberg’s testimony is a reminder of the increased role that AI will have across a variety of platforms in the years to come. If Congress isn’t aware of this by now, it is clear that they should be. This is why we urge our colleagues to support the FUTURE of AI Act, which establishes a federal advisory committee to study the emerging AI technologies and make recommendations to Congress and the Administration on how we can make sure society benefits from this new technology.” 

In December, Delaney and Olson introduced the FUTURE of AI Act, for more information click here. 

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