Congress wants to ban AI companies from selling your health data

The new proposal would ban the sale of Americans’ health and location information to data brokers — including information that people disclose to AI chatbots like ChatGPT or Claude.

In the coming weeks, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Representative Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA) plan to release a new version of the Health and Location Data Protection Act that is fit for the AI ​​era. The old version of the bill, was first introduced June 2022prohibits advertisers from collecting and selling health and property information. Four years later, it has been expanded to prohibit some companies from selling such information to brokers, and specifically covers data entered into AI systems.

AI labs have focused their attention on developing health and medical products. In January, Elon Musk to be publicly invited for people to upload their medical records, such as MRI scans, to Grok, xAI’s chatbot. That same month, OpenAI launched ChatGPT Health. It started again ChatGPT for Healthcareaimed at healthcare providers. A few days later, Anthropic pursued Claude for Healthcare, a “HIPAA-ready” tool for individuals, healthcare providers, and hospitals.

But when you’re dealing with a data breach or unauthorized access to data, users are relying on AI companies. Data protection for tools like OpenAI’s and Anthropic’s “primarily depends on what the companies promise about their privacy and how they can be used,” said Sara Gerke, a law professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. he said Seaside in January. The US does not the entire federal system for data privacy, even after years of testing.

The bill – which is co-sponsored by Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) – would require the Federal Trade Commission to implement the rules within 180 days and would allow the FTC, attorneys general, and affected individuals to file lawsuits. It will also provide $1 billion to the FTC over the next 10 years for enforcement.

“It is more important than ever that we fight back against the data vendors who are making huge profits from selling Americans’ personal information,” Senator Warren said in a statement. Especially as more people are entering their medical information into AI, we need to make sure that information isn’t being used by those who want it the most.”