By: Sam Jungyun Choi, Anna Oberschelp de Meneses, Jayne Ponder & Trevor Bernardo (Inside Tech Media)

On April 28, 2022, Covington convened experts across our practice groups for the Covington Robotics Forum, which explored recent developments and forecasts relevant to industries affected by robotics.  Sam Jungyun Choi, Associate in Covington’s Technology Regulatory Group, and Anna Oberschelp, Associate in Covington’s Data Privacy & Cybersecurity Practice Group, discussed global regulatory trends that affect robotics, highlights of which are captured here.  A recording of the forum is available here until May 31, 2022.

Trends on Regulating Artificial Intelligence

According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development  Artificial Intelligence Policy Observatory (“OECD”), since 2017, at least 60 countries have adopted some form of AI policy, a torrent of government activity that nearly matches the pace of modern AI adoption.  Countries around the world are establishing governmental and intergovernmental strategies and initiatives to guide the development of AI.  These AI initiatives include: (1) AI regulation or policy; (2) AI enablers (e.g., research and public awareness); and (3) financial support (e.g., procurement programs for AI R&D).  The anticipated introduction of AI regulations raises concerns about looming challenges for international cooperation.

United States

The U.S. has not yet enacted comprehensive AI legislation, though many AI initiatives have emerged at both the state and federal level.  The number of federal proposed bills introduced with AI provisions grew from 2 in 2012 to 131 in 2021.  Despite the dramatic increase of bills introduced, the number of bills actually enacted by the U.S. Congress remains low, with only 2% of the proposed bills ultimately becoming law. 

At the same time, U.S. state legislation, either focused on AI technologies or comprehensive privacy bills with AI provisions, have passed at much higher rates than their federal counterparts.  Some states have proposed bills that would regulate AI technologies in the context of a broader data protection framework, such as those laws recently passed in Virginia, Colorado, and Connecticut which set forth requirements for certain profiling activities that could implicate AI. In addition, states have also introduced bills and passed laws that directly regulate AI technologies, such as Colorado’s statute that sets forth requirements for the use of AI technologies in the insurance space. In contrast to the 2% pass rate at the federal level, 20% of the 131 state-proposed bills with AI provisions were passed into law in 2021. Massachusetts proposed the most AI-related bills in 2021 with 20, followed by Illinois with 15, and Alabama with 12…

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