On June 3, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) appeared on “A Starting Point” to discuss the bipartisan AI Whistleblower Protection Act he introduced in May. The bill provides anti-retaliation protections to AI insiders reporting safety concerns to regulators or supervisors and is widely supported by whistleblower advocates.
“I’ve had [AI] whistleblowers come to me and say that things aren’t right. They want to expose it … That’s why we need laws that would protect whistleblowers within the AI community, as we would any place in government or in the private sector,” Grassley stated.
“My bill will explicitly protect communications of current and former AI employees making legally protected disclosure to Congress or a federal agency or to a supervisor. It seems as time goes on, AI is growing. My timely legislation will bring transparency and accountability to the artificial intelligence sector before it’s too late,” Grassley continued.
Grassley also touched upon AI companies use of non-disclosure agreements to muzzle whistleblowing.
“[These] non-disclosure statements that would say ‘you can’t talk about this,’ and it just prohibits and inhibits people that know something’s wrong coming to Congress to talk about it. It’s a violation of free speech, [and] it’s a way of covering up things that are wrong, that either people in government don’t want public, or private business wants to keep the information within the business,” Grassley stated.
Under the AI Whistleblower Protection Act, whistleblowers who face retaliation would be able to file complaints with the Department of Labor and seek relief in federal court, including reinstatement, double back pay and compensatory damages. The bill also clarifies that these AI whistleblower rights cannot be waived in any employment agreement or mandatory arbitration.
Over the past year, advocates, including the National Whistleblower Center (NWC), have called on Congress to pass an AI whistleblower bill, noting that AI safety whistleblowers do not have industry-specific whistleblower protections afforded to other whistleblowers, such as nuclear safety or airline safety whistleblowers.
National Whistleblower Center has set up an Action Alert allowing supporters to write to Congress demanding the passage of the AI Whistleblower Protection Act.
Join NWC in Taking Action:
Call For the Passage of the AI Whistleblower Protection Act
Further Reading:
ICYMI: Grassley Discusses AI Whistleblower Protection Act During “A Starting Point” Interview
