Four federal U.S. agencies issued a warning on Tuesday that they already have the authority to tackle harms caused by artificial intelligence bias and they plan to use it.
The warning comes as Congress is grappling with how it should take action to protect Americans from potential risks stemming from AI. The urgency behind that push has increased as the technology has rapidly advanced with tools that are readily accessible to consumers, like OpenAI’s chatbot ChatGPT. Earlier this month, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., announced he’s working toward a broad framework for AI legislation, indicating it’s an important priority in Congress.
But even as lawmakers attempt to write targeted rules for the new technology, regulators asserted they already have the tools to pursue companies abusing or misusing AI in a variety of ways.
In a joint announcement from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Department of Justice, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Federal Trade Commission, regulators laid out some of the ways existing laws would allow them to take action against companies for their use of AI.
For example, the CFPB is looking into so-called digital redlining, or housing discrimination that results from bias in lending or home-valuation algorithms, according to Rohit Chopra, the agency’s director. CFPB also plans to propose rules to ensure AI valuation models for residential real estate have safeguards against discrimination.
“There is not an exemption in our nation’s civil rights laws for new technologies and artificial intelligence that engages in unlawful discrimination,” Chopra told reporters during a virtual press conference Tuesday.
“Each agency here today has legal authorities to readily combat AI-driven harm,” FTC Chair Lina Khan said. “Firms should be on notice that systems that bolster fraud or perpetuate unlawful bias can violate the FTC Act. There is no AI exemption to the laws on the books.”
Khan added the FTC stands ready to hold companies accountable for their claims of what their AI technology can do, adding enforcing against deceptive marketing has long been part of the agency’s expertise.
The FTC is also prepared to take action against companies that unlawfully seek to block new entrants to AI markets, Khan said.
“A handful of powerful firms today control the necessary raw materials, not only the vast stores of data but also the cloud services and computing power, that startups and other businesses rely on to develop and deploy AI products,” Khan said. “And this control could create the opportunity for firms to engage in unfair methods of competition.”
Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney general for the DOJ Civil Rights Division, pointed to a prior settlement with Meta over allegations that the company had used algorithms that unlawfully discriminated on the basis of sex and race in displaying housing ads.
“The Civil Rights Division is committed to using federal civil rights laws to hold companies accountable when they use artificial intelligence in ways that prove discriminatory,” Clarke said.
EEOC Chair Charlotte Burrows noted the use of AI for hiring and recruitment, saying it can result in biased decisions if trained on biased datasets. That practice may look like screening out all candidates who don’t look like those in the select group the AI was trained to identify.
Still, regulators also acknowledged there’s room for Congress to act.
“I do believe that it’s important for Congress to be looking at this,” Burrows said. “I don’t want in any way the fact that I think we have pretty robust tools for some of the problems that we’re seeing to in any way undermine those important conversations and the thought that we need to do more as well.”
“Artificial intelligence poses some of the greatest modern day threats when it comes to discrimination today and these issues warrant closer study and examination by policymakers and others,” said Clarke, adding that in the meantime agencies have “an arsenal of bedrock civil rights laws” to “hold bad actors accountable.”
“While we continue with enforcement on the agency side, we’ve welcomed work that others might do to figure out how we can ensure that we are keeping up with the escalating threats that we see today,” Clarke said.
Technology stocks bounced Tuesday after three rocky trading sessions, spurred by rising optimism that President Donald Trump could potentially negotiate tariff deals with world leaders.
The sector is coming off a wild trading session after speculation that the White House could potentially delay tariffs fueled volatile swings. Alphabet, Meta Platforms, Amazon and Nvidia finished higher, while Apple, Microsoft and Tesla posted losses.
Trump’s wide-sweeping tariff plans have sparked violent turbulence over the last three trading sessions. Trading volume on Monday hit its highest in nearly two decades. Technology stocks gyrated after the Nasdaq Composite posted its worst week in five years and the Magnificent Seven group lost $1.8 trillion in market value over two trading sessions.
Chipmakers were excluded from the recent tariffs, but have come under pressure on worries that higher duties could diminish demand for products they are used in and slow the economy. The sector is also expected to see tariffs further down the road.
Elsewhere, Broadcom surged 9% after announcing a $10 billion share buyback plan through the end of the year. Marvell Technology also bounced more than 9% after agreeing to sell its auto ethernet business for $2.5 billion in cash to Infineon Technologies.
Glen Tullman, chairman and chief executive officer at Livongo Health Inc., speaks during the 2015 Bloomberg Technology Conference in San Francisco, California, U.S., on Tuesday, June 16, 2015.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Digital health startup Transcarent on Tuesday announced it completed its acquisition of Accolade in a deal valued at roughly $621 million.
Transcarent first announced the acquisition in January, and the company said it has received all necessary shareholder and regulatory approvals to carry out the transaction. Accolade shareholders received $7.03 per share in cash, and its common stock will no longer trade on the Nasdaq, according to a release.
“Adding Accolade’s people and capabilities will significantly enhance our existing offerings,” Transcarent CEO Glen Tullman said in a statement. “We’re creating anentirely new way to experience health and care. We are truly better together.”
Transcarent offers at-risk pricing models to self-insured employers to help their workers quickly access care and navigate benefits. As of May, the company had raised around $450 million at a valuation of $2.2 billion. Transcarent also earned a spot on CNBC’s Disruptor 50 list last year.
More CNBC health coverage
Accolade offers care delivery, navigation and advocacy services. The company went public during the Covid pandemic in 2020 as investors began pouring billions of dollars into digital health, but the stock tumbled in the years following.
Accolade is the latest in a string of digital health companies to exit the public markets as the sector struggles to adjust to a more muted growth environment.
Transcarent said the executive leadership team will report to Tullman and includes representatives from both organizations. Accolade’s Kristen Bruzek will serve as executive vice president of care delivery operations, for instance.
Tullman is no stranger to overseeing major deals in digital health. He previously helmed Livongo, which was acquired by the virtual-care provider Teladoc in a 2020 agreement that valued the company at $18.5 billion.
General Catalyst and Tullman’s 62 Ventures led the acquisition’s financing, with additional participation from new and existing investors, the release said. The companies also leveraged cash from their combined balance sheet, and JP Morgan led the debt financing.
A drone operator loads a Walmart package into Zipline’s P1 fixed-wing drone for delivery to a customer home in Pea Ridge, Arkansas, on March 30, 2023.
Bunee Tomlinson
Zipline, a startup that delivers everything from vaccines to ice cream via electric autonomous drones, expanded its service to the Dallas area on Tuesday through a partnership with Walmart.
In Mesquite, Texas, about 15 miles east of Dallas, Walmart customers can sign up to receive orders within 30 minutes, delivered on Zipline’s newest unmanned aerial vehicles, known as P2 Zips.
The drones are capable of carrying up to eight pounds worth of cargo within a 10-mile radius, and can land a package on a space as small as a table or doorstep. The company, which ranked 21st on CNBC’s 2024 Disruptor 50 list, plans to expand soon in the Dallas metropolitan area.
Zipline CEO and co-founder Keller Rinaudo Cliffton said P2 Zips have “dinner plate-level” accuracy. They employ lift and cruise propellers and feature a fixed wing that helps them maneuver quietly, even through rain or gusts of wind up to 45 miles per hour.
In the delivery process, a P2 Zip will hover around 300 feet above ground level and dispatch a mini-aircraft with a container called the delivery zip, which descends on a long tether and moves into place using fan-like thrusters before setting down and allowing package retrieval.
Both the P2 Zip and the delivery zip use cameras, other sensors and Nvidia chips to determine what’s happening in the environment around them, and to avoid obstacles while making a delivery.
In March 2025, Zipline announced that its drones have logged more than 100 million autonomous miles of flight to-date, a number equivalent to flying more than 4,000 loops around the planet, or 200 lunar round trips, the company said in a video to mark the milestone.
Since it began operations in 2016, Rinaudo Cliffton said, Zipline has completed around 1.5 million deliveries, far more than competitors in the West. Wing, a Zipline rival focused on residential deliveries, has reported more than 450,000 deliveries since 2012.
Zipline initially focused on logistics in health care, making deliveries by drone to clinics and hospitals in nations where infrastructure sometimes impeded timely access to life-saving medicines, blood, vaccines and personal protective equipment. The company, valued at $4.2 billion in a 2023 financing round, is now making deliveries in Rwanda, Ghana, Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, Japan and the U.S., and expanded well beyond hospitals and clinics.
In addition to Walmart, customers include Sweetgreen, Chipotle and other quick-serve restaurants, as well as health clinics and hospital systems such as Cleveland Clinic and Mayo Clinic.
Zipline’s launch in Mesquite comes days after President Donald Trump’s announcement of widespread tariffs roiled markets on concern that companies would face rising costs and a slowdown in consumers spending. Rinaudo Cliffton said he doesn’t anticipate massive impediments to Zipline’s business, as its drones are built in the U.S., with manufacturing and testing in South San Francisco.