Regulators and employers are now grappling with how AI could transform hiring and recruiting, Maria and Ashley report.

Why it matters: Companies are increasingly turning to automated tools to help them make hiring, salary, promotion and other employment decisions.

• With no federal privacy law protecting Americans, troves of data are collected and used to feed automated employment tools.
• Lawmakers and regulators worry that if that data isn't screened for bias, those tools could exacerbate stereotypes that largely harm people of color.

Threat level: Most Americans say racial and ethnic bias in employment is a problem, but many said AI would improve rather than worsen the issue, a December 2022 Pew study found.

Yes, but: Lawmakers and regulators say responsibly deploying AI necessitates oversight of the private sector.

• And companies want clarity on how existing anti-discrimination and civil rights laws apply to the technology, which is something the White House's AI executive order aims to do.

One way to mitigate AI risk in employment and bias more generally is allowing researchers and smaller players, instead of just a handful of big companies, to examine models.

• The National AI Research Resource is designed to encourage greater participation in AI's development and will bring in an ethics committee to scan the data sets it offers for bias, but lawmakers have not yet funded it.
• NSF and NIST are hosting a workshop in the spring to discuss the creation of the ethics committee and other NAIRR activities, NSF Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure director Katie Antypas told Axios.

Another idea floated in Congress would require companies to be transparent about their bias-auditing processes and their results.

• The Algorithm Accountability Act would require companies to report impact assessments for bias to the FTC.
• The FTC would then provide consumers and advocates information on which critical decisions have been automated by companies, along with data sources, high level metrics and how to contest decisions.

What we're watching: whether AI companies will be willing to expose the details of their systems.

• In the context of social media, transparency requirements have run into first-amendment-based opposition (remember the Platform Accountability and Transparency Act?).

What they're saying: Rep. Yvette Clarke, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus and cosponsor of the Algorithmic Accountability Act, said there hasn't been significant pushback as the bill has gone through revisions.

• She told Maria that existing civil rights laws give the legislation good standing in debates over whether transparency requirements violate First Amendment or proprietary information rights.
• Clarke, who's a part of the new House AI task force, said she will use the working group to build support for her bill and highlight how data privacy is directly related to AI regulation.
• "My hope is that through this task force we will be dealing with the issues of algorithmic bias as well as data privacy," Clarke said.

Meanwhile, Indeed, one of the largest job sites in the world, says it's already taking action to mitigate AI bias in its systems.

• On privacy, head of responsible AI Trey Causey said data minimization principles need to be clearly defined.
• "There is an inherent tension between the data that you need to evaluate bias and to mitigate bias. So I do think the evaluation of AI systems and the data that requires could potentially be at odds with a data minimization standard."

What's next: The AI executive order directs the Labor Department to work with unions and workers to develop guidelines for employers around equity, protected activity, compensation, and health and safety implications of AI in the workplace.

• The Labor Department is creating guidance, to be released in the coming months, around algorithmic decision-making and its impact on hiring, supervision and promotion decisions.
• "It's hard to know if what we're experiencing is something completely new or whether this is similar to other forms of automation or other introductions of technology into the workplace," Muneer Ahmad, senior counsel at the Department of Labor, told Ashley.

Of note: You can read the first installment in our AI Meets Equity series here.

Researchers and regulators are tracking which Americans are most at risk of having AI affect their jobs, Maria and Ashley report.

The big picture: People with a higher education or a higher wage, women, Asian American and white workers are the "most exposed to AI," according to Pew.

• But they're also the groups that are more hopeful than concerned that AI will hurt their jobs.

The latest: President Biden's AI executive order gives the Department of Labor until late April to report how government agencies can help people displaced by AI, including through unemployment insurance, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act and potentially legislation.

What they're saying: The Labor Department "is vigilant about disproportionate impact on underserved communities," DOL's Ahmad told Ashley.

• "We're keeping our antenna up for how AI in particular affects women and communities of color, as well as people with disabilities."
• Nicole Jackson, head of digital transformation at Catalyst, a nonprofit focused on building workplaces for women, told Ashley: "So many of the administrative tasks that are predominantly oriented for women in the workforce in its current state are deeply impacted by some of the tools that are coming out," such as customer service and education.
• "That's a potential impact of millions of jobs. The question for us becomes what does that mean for up-skilling and re-skilling and making sure the right resources are aligned for the right population?"

What's next: The government's guidelines are bound to change and evolve, Ahmad said.

• "I wouldn't be surprised if the principles and best practices that we put out this year need to be revised next year."

🤖 AI task force: Maria scooped the details last week on the bipartisan House AI working group that officially launched Tuesday.

📫 TikTok letter: Sen. Marco Rubio and a handful of Republican colleagues called on President Biden to delete his campaign TikTok account.

💰 Quantum cash budget ask: Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker wants half a billion dollars to boost quantum computing, Axios Closer's Nathan Bomey reports.

🚧 CHIPS cash: The Biden administration announced plans to provide $1.5 billion to chipmaker GlobalFoundries to expand its domestic production.

• Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer: "We have only scratched the surface of the investment New York will receive from my CHIPS & Science Law, further transforming Upstate New York to lead the global semiconductor industry."

⚖️ AI officer: The DOJ named Princeton University's Jonathan Mayer its chief science and technology adviser and chief AI officer, Reuters reports.

💼 Consumer council: FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel announced that the commission is relaunching the Consumer Advisory Committee, and members will be offering advice on a range of issues including AI.

• The committee holds its first meeting on April 4.