Importantly, the mandated audits will have to evaluate whether the output of an AI system is biased against a group of people, using a metric called an “impact ratio” that determines whether the tech’s “selection rate” varies across different groups. The audits won’t have to seek to ascertain how an algorithm makes a decision, and the law skirts around the “explainability” challenges of complex forms of machine learning, like deep learning. As you might expect, that omission is also a hot topic for debate among AI experts.  

In the US we’re likely to see much more AI regulation of this sort—local laws that take on one particular application of the technology—as we wait for federal legislation. And it’s in these local fights that we can understand how AI tools, safety mechanisms, and enforcement are going to be defined in the decades ahead. Already, New Jersey and California are considering similar laws. 

(Read more of our coverage on AI and hiring here.)

What I am reading this week

• Celebrities riding the crypto wave are now dealing with the crash of reality, and some, like Tom Brady, are in hotter water than others. I loved this New York Times feature about the “humiliating reckoning facing the actors, athletes and other celebrities who rushed to embrace the easy money and online hype of cryptocurrencies,” as authors Erin Griffith and David Yaffe-Bellany write. 
• Russia is vying for more geopolitical control over the internet, writes David Ignatius in his latest Washington Post opinion column. Russia submitted a resolution ahead of the United Nations meeting in Geneva that would address how the internet is governed globally. This wonky space is actually quite interesting to watch, as China and Russia have both tried to rewrite global digital rules. 
• A US federal judge has blocked Biden administration officials from contacting social media sites, saying that their attempts to remove and report online content (such as misinformation) would violate the First Amendment. The ruling, which will most certainly be challenged, feels more like a political play than a meaningful change to content moderation policy. 

What I learned this week

Syracuse, New York, is poised for an economic turnaround thanks to a new semiconductor manufacturing facility for chipmaker Micron and a $100 billion investment. The funding is part of President Biden’s plan to revitalize domestic industrial policy with the help of tech jobs. 

David Rotman, our editor at large, writes, “Now Syracuse is about to become an economic test of whether, over the next several decades, the aggressive government policies—and the massive corporate investments they spur—can both boost the country’s manufacturing prowess and revitalize regions like upstate New York.” 

It’s a phenomenal story, and I’d highly recommend you take the time to read it this weekend!