Rep. Ayanna Pressley and several Democratic lawmakers reintroduced the AI Civil Rights Act to curb biased AI systems that disproportionately harm Black, Brown and marginalized communities. Advocates, including Damon Hewitt of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, call for greater transparency and accountability in AI development. Pressley pointed to stark local disparities — a roughly 30-year life expectancy gap and a $50,000 median income gap within a 3-mile radius — as evidence that intentional policy is needed to prevent AI from entrenching historic inequities.
Pressley Reintroduces AI Civil Rights Act to Combat Algorithmic Bias Against Black, Brown and Marginalized Communities
Rep. Ayanna Pressley warned that "AI is trained on data that is already biased and by humans that have biases."
Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) last week helped reintroduce the AI Civil Rights Act, legislation aimed at preventing companies from deploying biased and discriminatory AI-powered algorithms that disproportionately harm Black, Brown and other marginalized communities.
Pressley led the effort alongside Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Reps. Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.), Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and Summer Lee (D-Pa.), highlighting the need for transparency, accountability and civil-rights protections as artificial intelligence technology expands across sectors.
"As AI innovation grows, it is incumbent on us all to prioritize the safety, rights, and opportunity of all people — especially the Black, Brown, and marginalized communities who disproportionately bear the burden of biased and discriminatory systems," Pressley said in a statement on her website. "We cannot allow AI to be the latest chapter in America’s history of exploiting marginalized people."
Damon Hewitt, president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, said his organization is proud to partner with lawmakers on the legislation. Hewitt warned that many AI tools are trained on data shaped by generations of racial discrimination, redlining and segregation, and that such data can lead models to reproduce those harms.
Rep. Ayanna Pressley was one of many lawmakers pushing this legislation.
"Most AI tools are built using data that reflects generations of racial discrimination, redlining, and segregation," Hewitt said. "Increased transparency and accountability in the development and deployment of these technologies are critical steps for combating algorithmic bias."
At a House Financial Services Committee hearing, Pressley tied current disparities to historical policies and intentional lawmaking. She described a striking local contrast in her Massachusetts 7th District: within a 3-mile radius from Cambridge — home to MIT, Harvard and many AI initiatives — to Roxbury, the life expectancy drops by about 30 years and median household income falls by roughly $50,000.
"That is the result of intentional lawmaking, which is why I believe we have to be just as intentional in undoing the harms and charting an equitable path forward," Pressley told the committee. "Because AI is trained on data that is already biased and by humans that have biases, it can replicate and exacerbate these harms unless we have oversight and prevent it."
The debate over AI bias has intensified as algorithms are increasingly used in hiring, lending, criminal justice and other high-stakes areas. Experts caution that AI systems can inherit political, racial or social biases present in their training data or introduced by designers. Some critics, however, say certain models show other kinds of bias — for example, Google’s Gemini faced criticism after instances where it depicted some historical White figures as Black, prompting debate about accuracy and framing.
Supporters of the AI Civil Rights Act argue the bill would create standards for transparency, independent auditing and civil-rights protections to mitigate discriminatory outcomes. Fox News Digital said it reached out to Pressley’s office for comment.
