As businesses increasingly embrace technology to analyze customer and employee behavior, a California state agency has proposed giving consumers the choice to opt out of certain artificial intelligence and automation programs. This initiative aims to establish new guidelines for AI usage.
The proposed regulations by the California Privacy Protection Agency focus on the utilization of automated decision-making technology (ADMT) by companies to create profiles of employees, users in public settings, and individuals for targeted advertising, influencing significant decisions in consumers’ lives.
Under the plan, companies may be mandated to disclose their intended use of automated decision-making technology, allowing customers to either reject or consent to the utilization of their data.
Consumers would have the freedom to decline the use of such technology unless it is deemed essential for safety or physical well-being purposes. Moreover, the regulations aim to provide consumers with more transparency regarding how companies employ automated decision-making technology, particularly for behavioral advertising.
The California Privacy Protection Agency is also considering whether these regulations will impede the use of consumers’ personal information to train companies’ automated decision-making systems for improvement.
The regulations target companies that employ automated decision-making systems to profile not only customers but also employees, contractors, applicants, or students, assessing their performance and behavior.
The CPPA anticipates finalizing the rules and commencing the rulemaking process in the coming season, with a scheduled discussion and feedback session by the five-member committee on December 8. The agency, established under the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018, is responsible for enforcing the laws outlined in the act.
A previous study by Deloitte revealed that over 50% of companies expressed intentions to integrate AI and robotics technology into their operations this year. This trend underscores the necessity of regulating artificial intelligence, especially as companies increasingly rely on such technology for monitoring staff and clientele.
Ashkan Soltani, the senior director of the CPPA, lauded California’s proposed regulations as the most comprehensive and detailed rules in the AI domain. California has been proactive in safeguarding consumer data, passing laws to ensure transparency in data collection practices and restricting unauthorized data sharing, partly in response to the stringent privacy regulations of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation.
For further details, the official implementation of the California Consumer Privacy Act can be explored in today’s TechCrunch publication.
