Episode Overview

AI-specific laws are still taking shape, but AI is already regulated. This episode of Checks & Algorithms examines how existing legal frameworks apply to artificial intelligence today, across consumer protection, civil rights, intellectual property, product liability, and EU data and platform rules. It is designed for candidates preparing for the IAPP AIGP certification and for anyone who wants to understand where AI accountability already sits in current law.

Topics Covered

• Consumer Protection: How the FTC uses Section 5 of the FTC Act against deceptive AI marketing, inflated accuracy claims, and unfair automated outcomes; COPPA requirements for data collection and profiling of children under 13; and GLBA safeguards for financial data used in automated credit models.
• Non-Discrimination in Hiring and Lending: Disparate treatment and disparate impact under Title VII; adverse action notices under the Fair Credit Reporting Act; NYC Local Law 144 bias audits, candidate notice, and published audit results for automated employment decision tools; and the Illinois AI Video Interview Act's notice, consent, and deletion requirements.
• Intellectual Property: Why copyright protection requires human authorship, and why the USPTO and EPO require patent inventors to be natural persons.
• Product Liability: Whether AI software is treated as a product, subject to strict liability, or a service, subject to negligence, and how causation is established when model outputs cause harm.
• GDPR Article 22: The right not to be subject to solely automated decisions with legal or similarly significant effects; the contract, legal authorization, and explicit consent exceptions; and the required safeguards of human intervention, the right to express a point of view, and the right to contest.
• DPIA vs. AI Conformity Assessment: How a GDPR Article 35 Data Protection Impact Assessment differs from a conformity assessment for high-risk systems under the EU AI Act.
• EU Digital Services Act: Transparency obligations for recommender systems, including disclosure of the main parameters behind recommendations and options for users to change or opt out of profiling-based recommendations.

Intended Audience

• AIGP Candidates: Coverage aligned with Domain III, Understanding How Existing Laws Apply to AI.
• Legal Counsel and HR Leaders: Practical context on NYC Local Law 144, Title VII liability for algorithmic bias, and FCRA adverse action notices.
• Privacy Officers and DPOs: Guidance on aligning GDPR Article 22, DPIAs, and recommender system disclosures with enterprise AI deployments.

Checks & Algorithms is a podcast on AI governance, covering the policies, standards, and accountability practices shaping artificial intelligence.