President Trump’s anti-DEI movement comes for AI

On April 24, the Justice Department intervened in xAI’s challenge to Colorado’s “Consumer Protections for Artificial Intelligence” law. In its complaint, the DOJ argues the law’s provisions curbing algorithmic bias violates people’s 14th Amendment right to be treated equally under the law. The intervention is in some ways an outgrowth of the movement to eradicate all race-conscious policies after the landmark Supreme Court case Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard in 2023 struck down affirmative action in college admissions. Conservative groups like America First Legal, founded by now-White House adviser Stephen Miller, quickly seized on the decision to also challenge diversity initiatives in other contexts, like hiring and law journal recruiting. The DOJ took up that cause when President Trump returned to office, and even cited the Harvard case in their challenge to the Colorado law. This movement is now trying to beat back algorithmic bias laws, significantly narrowing the kinds of discrimination that the government is allowed to combat. Yet it’s unclear how successful these anti-DEI legal arguments will be in the context of machine learning, as opposed to admissions and hiring.