Shedding Light on Algorithms: Civil Rights Advocates and Lawmakers Call for Changes to Connecticut’s FOI Laws to Address AI Bias Concerns – CT News Junkie

04/25/2023
By Hugh McQuaid

Civil rights advocates and a group of lawmakers called Tuesday for changes to Connecticut’s Freedom of Information laws in order to shed more light on the use of algorithms and artificial intelligence by state agencies.

Legislators and university professors joined members of the Connecticut Advisory Committee To U.S. Commission on Civil Rights during a morning press conference to release the committee’s report on the civil rights implications of algorithm use by state government. (Read More)

CT Agencies — Mostly in Secret — Use Computers to Make Critical Decisions; Agencies Stonewall Public Requests to Reveal How The Work is Done

Three major CT state agencies have used automated software programs, called algorithms, to make policy decisions affecting school funding, removing children from families, and hiring state workers, but are unable or unwilling to fully disclose how these programs make their decisions.

Significant gaps in public oversight of “behind the scenes” computer decision-making were revealed in a comprehensive research report released by the Media Freedom and Information Access Clinic (MFIA) at Yale Law School, in collaboration with The CT Foundation for Open Government (CFOG) and the CT Council on Freedom of Information (CCFOI). (Read More)