The Algorithmic Accountability Act (AAA), proposed in February 2022, requires all companies using artificial intelligence (AI) to conduct critical impact assessments of their automated systems in accordance with Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regulations. The act was instituted to address discrimination and privacy concerns related to the use of computer algorithms in corporate decision making.

Associate Directors Dr. Andrew Stivers and Dr. Gabriella Monahova and Maneesha Mithal, a Partner in Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati’s Privacy and Cybersecurity Practice, address the AAA and its effects in their recently published Antitrust Magazine Online article, “The Algorithmic Accountability Act: Potential Coverage Gaps in the Healthcare Sector.”

In the article, the authors examine how the implementation of the AAA through the existing authority of the FTC could have a differential effect on market participants and explore how this may lead to unintended consequences for competition and innovation. Using the healthcare sector as an example, the authors describe how applying the AAA’s requirements to entities subject to the jurisdiction of the FTC may create differences in costs and incentives across competitors.