Massachusetts AG Says Consumer Protection, Civil Rights, and Data Privacy Laws Apply to Artificial Intelligence


Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell issued an advisory (“Advisory”) warning to developers, suppliers, and users of artificial intelligence and algorithmic decision-making systems (collectively, “AI”) about their respective obligations under the Massachusetts’ Consumer Protection Act, Anti-Discrimination Law, Data Security Law and related regulations. There is not much surprising here, as the Advisory addresses many of the same issues raised in the White House Executive Order and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) guidance. It is helpful however in clarifying, for consumers, developers, suppliers, and users of AI systems, specific aspects of existing state laws and regulations that apply to AI and that these laws and regulations apply to the same extent as they apply to any other product or application within the stream of commerce.

The Advisory recognizes the benefits of AI but flags some risks to consumers including bias, lack of transparency or explainability, implications for data privacy, and more. It also notes deceptive uses including chatbots used to perpetrate scams or to surreptitiously collect sensitive personal data from consumers, deepfakes, and voice cloning used for the purpose of deceiving or misleading a listener about the speaker’s true identity. The Advisory seeks to address and ultimately mitigate these risks by clarifying for consumers, developers, suppliers, and users of AI systems that existing state laws and regulations apply to AI. Among other things, the Advisory provides the following, non-exhaustive list of examples.

It is unfair or deceptive to:

The Advisory further warns:

This Advisory is another example of the wave of guidance from states on how they believe existing laws apply to AI, as some states also craft new, AI-specific laws to cover activities that may not fit neatly into existing law.

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National Law Review, Volume XIV, Number 108