The New Jersey Attorney General’s office (NJAG) has added to nationwide efforts to regulate, or at least clarify, the application of existing law. In this case, it has clarified how the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination, N.J.S.A. § 10:5-1 et seq. (LAD), applies to artificial intelligence technologies. In short, the NJAG’s guidance states: “[T]he LAD applies to algorithmic discrimination in the same way it has long applied to other discriminatory conduct.”
In case you are not familiar with it, the LAD generally applies to employers, housing providers, places of public accommodation, and certain other entities. The law prohibits discrimination based on actual or perceived race, religion, color, national origin, sexual orientation, pregnancy, breastfeeding, sex, gender identity, gender expression, disability, and other protected characteristics. According to the NJAG’s guidance, the LAD protections extend to algorithmic discrimination (discrimination that results from the use of automated decision-making technology [ADMT]) in employment, housing, places of public accommodation, credit, and contracting.
Citing a recent Rutgers survey, the NJAG pointed to high levels of adoption of AI tools by New Jersey employers. According to the survey, 63% of New Jersey employers use one or more tools to recruit job applicants and/or make hiring decisions. These AI tools are broadly defined in the guidance to include: “any technological tool, including but not limited to, a software...
Housing Department clarifies online comments about interim housing units In response to netizens' comments on a social media platform about victims of the fire incident in Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po...