As AI and new data uses transform people’s access to employment, housing, credit, and other economic opportunities, CDT advocates for policies that tackle the evolving technological risks to people’s civil rights, privacy, and dignity.
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Increasingly, decisions about fundamental economic opportunities are being driven by new tools and technologies. Automated systems are changing how employers evaluate job applicants and surveil, supervise, and compensate workers; how housing providers assess prospective tenants and set rent; and when and on what terms people can obtain loans and other financial products. Too often these technologies worsen power imbalance and information asymmetry between people and companies, reinforcing existing racial, gender, disability, and other inequalities in our society.
CDT examines and improves public understanding of technology’s impact in the workplace, housing, financial services, and other areas critical to economic stability, including the role for regulation to ensure newer data uses and technological adoption respect civil rights and consumer protection laws. We also explore potentially empowering uses of technology and worker- and consumer-centered frameworks to guide policymakers and companies. CDT works alongside those who are most impacted by these new technologies, helping to surface future problems and possibilities, and advocating for policies and practices that mitigate against the worst of these concerns.
