DOJ Gives Prosecutors AI Risk Assessment Rules for Company Talks

Federal prosecutors have new guidance when examining a company’s AI-risk mitigating procedures during criminal settlement negotiations, including asking about the extent of human involvement, the Justice Department said in a new policy.

The department’s handbook for how prosecutors evaluate company compliance programs before determining an appropriate investigation resolution was updated Monday with multiple criteria focused on artificial intelligence integration.

“Prosecutors will consider the technology that a company and its employees use to conduct business, whether the company has conducted a risk assessment of the use of that technology, and whether the company has taken appropriate steps to mitigate any risk,” said Nicole Argentieri, the head of DOJ’s Criminal Division, in remarks prepared for delivery Monday announcing the update. “For example, prosecutors will consider whether the company is vulnerable to criminal schemes enabled by new technology, such as false approvals and documentation generated by AI.”

The revisions to DOJ’s Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs came in response to a directive from Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, who in February warned of stiffer sentences for criminals who rely on the generative technology to advance their misconduct as part of a broader focus on combating AI abuse.

Questions the Criminal Division evaluation document instructs prosecutors to pose include how the company uses AI as part of its compliance system that detects internal fraud and other wrongdoing.

That includes asking, “what baseline of human decision-making is used to assess AI,” how such accountability is monitored and enforced, and the company trains employees on AI and other emerging technologies.