Senate Bill to Regulate Personal Data Use in Training AI Models

A Senate bill would direct the Federal Trade Commission to implement enforcement actions against companies operating online platforms that use consumers’ data for AI model training without consent.

Under the Artificial Intelligence Consumer Opt-In, Notification Standards, and Ethical Norms for Training Act, introduced by Sens. Peter Welch, D-Vt., and Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., a company’s failure to get consent before training AI models would be considered a deceptive or unfair practice, FedScoop reported.

The bill proposes to create consent disclosure standards, including providing instructions to grant or revoke consent, and regulate how companies present disclosures on their platforms.

The proposed legislation also directs the FTC to submit a report to the Senate Commerce, Science and Technology and House Energy and Commerce committees on the feasibility of user data de-identification amid the continuous advancement in AI tools.

According to Welch, the AI CONSENT Act will help improve privacy protections and keep consumers informed on how platforms use their data.