Session
Freedom Online Coalition
The Freedom Online Coalition is a group of 32 countries who believe that the human rights people have offline must also be protected online and are committed to working together to support Internet freedom, supported by an Advisory Network of experts from across civil society, academia, and industry. As Chair of the FOC’s Taskforce on Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights (T-FAIR), Canada will host this panel to launch an FOC Joint Statement on AI and Human Rights and explore the question “What can governments do to promote human rights respecting AI?”. This Joint Statement reflects input from a diverse group of global civil society members, beginning with consultations at RightsCon in July 2020, and the commitments of FOC member countries.
Report
Areas of broad agreement: AI can benefit humanity, but can also pose significant risks to human rights. There especially needs to be recognition of the human rights risks that AI poses in the context of digital authoritarianism - specifically Remote Biometric Identification (RBI) including facial recognition technology, and automated content moderation. To address these risks and to ensure that AI is human rights respecting, a multistakeholder approach to AI governance is crucial. This must include perspectives from the Global South, as countries with weaker human rights protections will continue to develop and export their own technologies. One successful example of a multistakeholder approach is the Taskforce on AI and Human Rights (T-FAIR). In addition to the Taskforce's internal collaboration, T-FAIR also consulted civil society through engagements such as a workshop at RightsCon (July 2020) before developing a Joint Statement on AI and Human Rights. The importance of digital literacy was also discussed, particularly in terms of policy-makers who use AI and civil society organizations who are underrepresented in policy-making. In the former, examples from Brazil indicate that many policy-makers who use AI lack training and are unequipped to test AI for bias or efficacy. Regarding the latter, a lack of technical knowledge of AI can prohibit civil society groups from participating in policy discussions.
Areas needing further discussion: In addition to human rights, we need greater analysis of the long-term impacts of AI on democracy, civic life, and rule of law. This is challenging, as we don't clearly know how AI will develop. In addition, there is broad consensus that AI should not be used towards authoritarian or repressive purposes, but we also need to consider negative, unintended consequences that arise from initial positive or legitimate aims, as well as the use of technologies such as surveillance in established democracies.
- To ensure that AI is governed, developed, and used in a way that is human rights respecting, a multistakeholder approach to AI governance is crucial (including civil society, academia, industry, and governments). For example, when creating or refreshing National AI Strategies, governments should proactively engage with civil society organizations and communities that are often excluded from these policy discussions. In addition to domestic processes, stakeholders must engage in international cooperation. Organizations such as the Freedom Online Coalition that bring together member countries and members of the non-governmental Advisory Network are very important to promote human rights online and Internet Freedom.
- Different stakeholders must work together to advance the FOC Joint Statement on Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights, and its calls to action. Stakeholders are encouraged to use the statement as an advocacy tool in their work. AI and Human Rights will remain an area of focus for the Freedom Online Coalition in 2021.
Moderator: Charles Bradley, Executive Director of Global Partners Digital
Panelists: Dan Costello, Assistant Deputy Minister for Global Affairs Canada;
Johanna Sumuvuori, State Secretary at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland;
Bernard Shen, Assistant General Counsel at Microsoft;
Francesca Fanucci, Senior Legal Advisor at the European Center for Not-for-Profit Law;
Juliana Sakai, Chief Operating Officer at Transparência Brasil.
Finland discussed the importance of incorporating a gender perspective into the governance of technologies (gender is also at the center of Finland’s foreign and security policy). Finland is working to bridge the gender digital divide through their leadership at UN Women’s Generation Equality Forum. Important actions include bringing more women into the tech sector as agents of change, ensuring that technology is more gender responsive, and allowing women to use their voices online without the threat of gender-based violence and hate speech. Finland will incorporate women and girls as a focus of their 2021 Chairship of the Freedom Online Coalition.
This session discussed the launch of the Freedom Online Coalition Joint Statement on Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights: https://freedomonlinecoalition.com/news/foc-issues-joint-statement-on-a…