Digital Action

Reflections on the AI Action Summit in Paris: Last week's AI Summit in Paris brought together different stakeholders to chart the future of artificial intelligence. While much attention focused on the final declaration, the real value emerged from the grassroots—the tireless advocates, researchers, and practitioners working to build more equitable, human-rights-centered AI systems. At our side event, “Building Equitable AI: Global Voices for Information Integrity,” organized by Digital Action and the Forum on Information and Democracy, we had the great privilege of hosting a dialogue on democratizing AI development. Carla Vreche from Conectas Brazil shared crucial insights on digital colonialism and Brazil's journey toward AI regulation, highlighting both progress and persistent challenges. Michael J. Oghia of the Global Forum for Media Development (GFMD) brought attention to the critical infrastructure crisis facing media organizations, while Camille Grenier presented an innovative voluntary certification mechanism for public interest AI. Rodrigo Durán Rojas from Centro Nacional de Inteligencia Artificial emphasized the importance of regional collaboration and cross-border partnerships. A particularly enriching discussion at the #AIActionSummit centered on open-source AI models. While acknowledging their risks, similar to closed systems, the conversation highlighted their potential for empowerment, creating auditable and collaborative systems that enable greater accountability. This opens possibilities for thinking about AI systems from a micro perspective, potentially offering alternatives to market concentration among large companies. The dialogue also emphasized the ongoing need to address infrastructure access and cloud computing challenges. However, the Summit wasn't without its shortcomings. Civil society's role was notably marginalized, with confusion about participation mechanisms from the start. The event sometimes felt more like a showcase for French political initiatives, including promotion of the country's data center capabilities ("plug baby plug" said Macron). While the final declaration maintains a balanced tone about AI's future, it falls short in addressing crucial aspects of security and risks, lacking a more robust human rights approach. Though it acknowledges the importance of human rights protection, it offers no concrete mechanisms for implementation, no mandatory impact assessments, and no clear pathways for affected communities to seek redress when AI systems cause harm. The decision by the US and UK not to sign the declaration is especially troubling, as it threatens to fracture international efforts to balance security and trust with innovation - a balance that is crucial for responsible AI development. I want to thank all our speakers and participants who joined us in our side event a success. #AIGovernance #GlobalAI #AIEquity #AIActionSummit #HumanRights

Excited to have arrived in Taipei for RightsCon 2025 with Bulanda T Nkhowani, Mona Shtaya and Vladimir Cortés Roshdestvensky where we’ll be gathering the best and brightest in global tech justice this Tuesday! The start to the year has been mind-boggling for this movement — the Financial Times has just reported another of our campaign actions in response - please join us to brainstorm a better future or for a well-deserved drink after. FT article: https://lnkd.in/e5eSASJF

Enough is Enough! In light of Mark Zuckerberg’s recent announcements to end fact-checking programs starting in the United States, weaken hate speech protections for women, immigrants and LGBTQ communities as well as align with the Trump administration to undermine democratic tech accountability efforts, the Global Coalition for Tech Justice (GCTJ) is urging members of Meta’s Oversight Board to publicly resign from their posts. “They are there to hold the company to account, not to act as a fig leaf for Meta’s assault on human rights and democracy,” Digital Action's Mona Shtaya told The Washington Post. More details in the Coalition open letter: https://lnkd.in/gxCiVWtn https://lnkd.in/g3SS5kv7

The Sustainable AI Forum side event at the AI Action Summit underlined the need for collaboration in balancing AI innovation with sustainability. 1. ?Sustainable Data Centers France’s recent AI investments highlight sustainable infrastructure, with Eclairion leading in: ?? Modular, flexible designs, retrofitted every few years for new chip tech ? Energy efficiency, powered by renewable energy ?? Direct Liquid Cooling (DLC) to reduce water waste However, US data centers lead in hardware reuse, refurbishment, and recycling - a gap Europe needs to close. ?? How can we accelerate the global adoption of circular data center practices? ?? Should leaders open-source designs to drive widespread adoption? 2. ?? Accountability & AI Impact Should users be more accountable for AI’s environmental impact? While limiting AI use (prioritising cancer research over unicorn puppies) is tricky, improving transparency is key. ?? Would real-time carbon and water footprint stats/dashboards on our tools push us, tools and data centres to optimise further? 3. At “Building Equitable AI”, hosted by Digital Action with WITNESS, UNESCO, Conectas… discussions centered on AI transparency and accessibility, ensuring AI serves diverse human needs through inclusive, values-driven models. ?? The Cost of AI & Data Access: AI requires more data for better outcomes, yet cloud computing costs consume 25% of global majorities' media organisations’ budgets?according to Michael Oghia, Global Forum for Media Development (GFMD). ?? How do we break this vicious cycle of AI & data access for the global majority? ?? AI and Political Misuse: Carla Vreche (Conectas, Brazil) exposed AI abuses in politics, deepfake attacks on women, racial profiling, and weak regulations. Corporate lobbying weakened protections for workers, leaving facial recognition largely unchecked. ?? How can we ensure global AI outcomes are truly values-driven and inclusive? ?? Clearer labeling and Transparency: Does labeling enhance trust or kill the mystique of AI-generated content?? ?? How might we discreetly label visual content to reveal AI training data and the applied models without killing creativity? Any ideas to solve some of these AI sustainability and equity challenges? #SustainableAI?#CircularEconomy #DataCenters #AIForGood #InclusiveAI #SustainableInnovation

?? Just back from the Global AI Action Summit in Paris! Vladimir Cortés Roshdestvensky, our Campaigns and Partnerships Director for LATAM, shares his insights from our summit event, in this blogpost, on AI governance and equity, emphasizing the need for inclusive frameworks that ensure AI benefits everyone. #GlobalAISummit #AIGovernance #EquityInAI

?? 35+ public interest groups, have an urgent message for the #EuropeanCommission and president Von der Leyen: Now is the time to resist political pressure from #BigTech companies and prioritise the decisive enforcement of Europe's tech laws. The #DSA, #DMA, and EU antitrust rules are crucial for protecting our #democracy and #economy. Big Tech CEOs are seeking to mobilise the Trump administration to protect their ability to exploit users and businesses dependent on them. This exploitation has created an unfair digital economy and has negatively impacted the dynamism and pluralism of Europe’s economy. Read our open letter ?? https://lnkd.in/db3gabyk ?? Access Now, AlgorithmWatch, Aspiration, Avaaz, Balanced Economy Project, Finanzwende, Center for Countering Digital Hate, Corporate Europe Observatory, Cryptee, Danes je nov dan, Defend Democracy, Democracy Reporting International, Digital Action, Digitale Gesellschaft, Zavod Dr?avljan D, Ekō EuropeanFederation of Public Service Unions (EPSU), European Digital Rights, FEMNET, Germanwatch e.V., Goliathwatch, Gong, Homo Digitalis, Irish Council for Civil Liberties, LobbyControl, The Matrix.org Foundation, Metamorphosis Foundation, Nextcloud, Open Markets Institute, Fundacja Panoptykon, People vs Big Tech, Politiscope, Croatia Rebalance Now, SHARE Foundation, SOMO, The Good Lobby, St. The London Story, Transnational Institute, Vrijschrift.org, Xnet, European Digital Rights

This week's #AIActionSummit in France will be pivotal for the future of AI governance. Our coalition of partners around the world are taking one message: communities can and will be part of deciding the future of AI. Join our AI Commons campaign to find out how we plan to make sure Big Tech is accountable https://lnkd.in/eYGB2Zb9 #TechJustice #BigTechAccountability

In just a week Digital Action and our partners from all over the world will be at the #AIActionSummit with a plan to make sure Big Tech is accountable. Our #AICommons campaign rests upon four pillars of participation: 1. AI Equity Lab Network 2. Citizen's Design Council 3. Policy Innovstion Lab 4. Multi-Stakeholder Oversight The AI Commons Initiative is your invitation to be part of this transformation. Whether you’re a civil society organization, academic institution or concerned citizen, we need your voice and expertise. Together, we can ensure that AI serves democracy and human rights across the Global Majority, not just in corporate centers of power. Find out how you can be part of the movement democratizing AI and sign up https://lnkd.in/eYGB2Zb9

Now that President Trump's dangerous agenda for human rights is becoming crystal clear, the alliance between Big Tech and his administration are threatening democracy globally. Meta is terminating its fact-checking program and weakening hate speech policies, fueling digital authoritarianism and silencing marginalized voices globally. This is a wake-up call! ?? Join the movement making sure Big Tech is accountable: https://lnkd.in/eqxNqPDf? #TechAccountability #DigitalJustic

??Mark Zuckerberg and other Big Tech CEOs have fully aligned with the new Trump administration, dismantling safeguards for human rights & democracy. The GCTJ’s statement exposes their dangerous agenda and calls for urgent global action. ?? Take action now: https://lnkd.in/eqxNqPDf? #TechAccountability #DigitalJustice