3 Questions on what a positive digital future could look like to Payal Arora 3 questions In this super election year, concerns loom over how artificial intelligence might impact elections worldwide. Technology’s advances, coupled with the potential misuse of bad actors, are a real threat. However, there are intriguing contrasts in attitudes towards AI and the use of technology between Europe and the Global South. Prof. Dr. Payal Arora, Chair of Inclusive AI Cultures at the Department of Media & Culture Studies at Utrecht University, challenges prevailing narratives of techno-pessimism. She offers a nuanced perspective on the transformative potential of technology within inclusive frameworks. Zora Siebert asked her three key questions. By Zora Siebert and Payal Arora
The sustainability of AI beyond regulation: a revival of national strategies? Commentary Governments worldwide have been adopting national AI strategies to guide the design of policies for enhancing Artificial Intelligence (AI) development. Through these strategies, many countries have expressed AI’s potential for helping combat environmental degradation, but almost none have reflected on the role of strategies in reducing AI’s own environmental impacts. This article discusses this trend and reflects on how public policies could help make AI development and deployment less impactful. By José Renato Laranjeira de Pereira
The EU AI Act and environmental protection: the case for a missed opportunity Commentary The AI Act has finally overcome its latest hurdle in the European Union’s legislative procedure after its adoption by the European Parliament. However, a void in its final version draws attention to the weakening of obligations aimed at reducing AI’s environmental impacts, despite the technology’s severe impacts on local communities, fauna and flora, both within and beyond European borders, particularly in the Majority World. This commentary investigates the opportunities missed by EU bodies to address such impacts during the AI Act debates. By José Renato Laranjeira de Pereira
What Europe should know about the new US AI policy Analysis US President Joe Biden issued an Executive Order on artificial intelligence that, while different in form and enforcement authority from the EU’s AI Act, targets many of the current risks of the technology. With policies in effect soon, the EU and US have the chance to work together. By Drew Mitnick
Making coffee and the art of coding: who works in the field of AI? Commentary Working on and with AI is inherently influenced by gender and race. The small number of women and minorities among AI developers has even been described as a "diversity crisis". At the same time, however, women from the Global South are strong in lowly-paid areas of the field, from hardware assembly to crowd work addressing bias and injustices in AI. Understanding these present discriminating structures is the first step to social change. By Katharina Klappheck
Platforms' policies on climate change misinformation Factsheet This factsheet delves into platforms’ policies on climate change misinformation, focusing on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X/Twitter and YouTube and their actions are currently in place to limit the impact of such content. pdf
Ethics of communicating with generative AI chatbots Commentary AI chatbots like ChatGPT blur the line between human and machine, at the same time captivating minds and raising alarms. Having been swiftly integrated into search engines and programmes, these bots lack clear boundaries. Jeffrey Chan dissects the ethical challenges and environmental impacts of AI bots, as well as navigating fair AI use and the language and wisdom boundary. By Jeffrey KH Chan
"of bodies new and strange" – the future of human love in the age of AI Essay Aifric Campbell explores the future of love and intimacy as our attention to humans is seduced by machines. By Aifric Campbell
Underscored by the algorithm: AI's impacts on labour and environment Commentary What are the impacts of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on human labour and the environment? How do legislative proposals for regulating AI in Europe and Brazil respond to these impacts beyond discussions on surveillance and automated decision-making bias? By José Renato Laranjeira de Pereira and Thiago Guimarães Moraes
Promoting irresponsible AI: lessons from a Brazilian bill Commentary In the following months, the Brazilian Senate will vote on a 10-article bill establishing principles for the development and deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) systems. Its content, however, may help perpetuate recent cases of algorithmic discrimination through provisions that hinder the accountability for AI-induced errors and restrict the scope of rights established in Brazil’s General Data Protection Legislation and in the Brazilian Constitution. By José Renato Laranjeira de Pereira and Thiago Guimarães Moraes