The U.S. Department of Justice has moved to intervene in xAI's lawsuit challenging Colorado's artificial intelligence discrimination law. The department argues the state's law, SB24-205, violates the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause by requiring AI companies to prevent unintentional "disparate impact".
The DOJ stated the law is illegal for forcing AI companies to "infect their products with woke DEI ideology," asserting it coerces innovators into producing harmful products that advance a "radical, far-left worldview."
Colorado's law, set to take effect June 30, requires companies using high-risk AI in decisions like hiring and lending to assess and reduce discrimination risks. xAI sued Colorado earlier this month, claiming the law forces AI systems to produce biased or inaccurate results.
The DOJ's intervention aligns the federal government with Elon Musk's AI company. Legal experts suggest the argument that Colorado's law burdens AI startups and slows U.S. competitiveness may be stronger than the constitutional claim.