Greening AI: A Roundtable Reflection
Together with Friends of the Earth (England, Wales and Northern Ireland) or EWNI, we recently brought together climate and environmental justice campaigners, digital rights advocates, and other engaged activists. We discussed a set of shared principles for how we, as a collective, can think about how we apply AI technology, and how we think about AI in alignment with our values. The event, a Greening AI Roundtable, was fantastic.
We were pleased to have four amazing folks come and lead the discussion:
- Marcus Berdaut, Creative Producer at the Upsetters
- Marie-Therese Png, AI Ethics PhD Candidate at Oxford
- Samantha Ndiwalana, Ranking Digital Rights Research Lead at the World Benchmarking Alliance
- shawna finnegan, Environmental justice lead at the Association for Progressive Communications
And the audience was just as amazing with people from a variety of campaigning and justice organisations, universities and non-profits. Everyone was eager to understand where the conversation of AI + Sustainability currently is and where it might be going.
A First Draft
In the lead up to our Greening AI Roundtable, WAO carried out desk research and engaged in user research interviews to build a set of draft principles. The draft was informed by reports, articles, and papers from organisations who have carried out deep work in this area, including Friends of the Earth, the Joseph Roundtree Foundation, the Association for Progressive Communication and many more.
Our shared principles aim to guide activists and campaigners in making informed decisions about their work. These seven key considerations provide a foundation when it comes to AI development, deployment and use in activist spaces, and hopefully, everywhere else. A couple weeks before the Roundtable, we sent these draft principles to our invited experts, hoping to provoke statements that would provide constructive criticism on the principles, as well as help the audience understand the complexities of the topic and the pathways forward.
We were not disappointed. We have some work to do to improve the first draft, and we were ecstatic for the thoughtful, articulate criticisms and praise the principles received.
Here are the DRAFT 7 Principles and brief descriptions we asked our panelists to comment on:
The Appetite for Community
What was striking during the Roundtable was not only the willingness of participants to dive into the topic but also the eagerness to have this space for the conversation. Though the Roundtable was a full 90 minutes long, it felt too short. It was clear that this was the beginning of something important.
There’s an opportunity for us as climate and digital rights advocates to co-create new strategies and campaigns, share knowledge, and support one another in navigating this rapidly evolving landscape. Together we can think about what a better future looks like and fight the behemoth of Big Tech and Big Business to have a say in how our world is designed. Indeed, it’s what activists have always done — present a different future, find a way to resist, suggest alternatives.
We need one another, and we need a community of practice where organisations can come together to:
- Share best practices and lessons learned from AI use and implementation
- Collaborate on research projects exploring the intersection of AI and environmental justice
- Develop educational resources and workshops for capacity building
- Engage with policymakers, industry leaders, and other stakeholders to advocate for responsible AI development
We believe that such a community has the potential to drive meaningful change. We’re currently exploring ways that we might bring together and support such a community. Perhaps with a community call? Such an initiative requires support, so if you have ideas about funding such an initiative, we’d be all ears!
Coming Soon
As organisations working to protect the planet and promote human rights, it’s essential that we have an open conversation about AI in our societies. We are now working on an article for the Friends of the Earth (England, Wales and Northern Ireland) website in which we will unpack the complexities around “ethical” or “responsible” AI. We’re aiming for publication in January.
We’ll continue to update you on our progress! If you have ideas or suggestions for how we can make this work stronger, please don’t hesitate to reach out.