Our grantees have helped put fundamental rights and democratic freedoms at the heart of policymaking on AI. They’ve brought marginalised communities such as migrants, autistic people and sex workers into the debate. And they’re exploring how AI is intersecting in criminal justice, climate, health and more.
As well as offering financial support, we help organisations build networks, gain skills and work collaboratively to drive change.
Issued: Sep 2023|1 yearClosed
Novi Sindikat
€30.000 Ecosystem grants
Croatia
With this European AI & Society Fund grant, Novi Sindikat supported collaboration between trade unions advocating for and supporting the implementation of the EU Platform Workers Directive – empowering them to engage in collective bargaining in the AI-driven world of work and effectively protects workers’ rights.
The project also equipped trade unions with the necessary knowledge and digital literacy skills to effectively navigate the complexities of AI applications in workplaces. For example, they explored issues related to data recovery as a way to reverse current power imbalances at work.
With the support of the European AI & Society Fund, Homo Digitalis hired a full-time Director of AI Matters for two years, setting up the framework necessary for transitioning to a full-time organisation and strategising sustainable future growth. This helped transform Homo Digitalis into a strong human rights watchdog in the field of AI development and deployment, especially on matters related to technology-led policing and border management activities.
The European Disability Forum’s (EDF) played an important role in ensuring that the AI Act included provisions to protect the rights of persons with disabilities through advocacy for mandatory accessibility for all AI systems.
Through webinars, training sessions, and workshops on AI, disability rights, and issues like AI in elections, EDF strengthened its members’ advocacy on AI and disability rights. Their AI Policy Officer was also appointed to a Canadian government committee that is developing the world’s first standard on AI and accessibility.
With this grant, CDT Europe facilitated dialogue between lawmakers and civil society at a crucial point in the AI Act development, including a roundtable event attended by 35 government officials attended representing 15 EU member states.
Civil society coordination led to a joint CSO strategy and a common voice, prioritising a rights-based approach and a holistic framework that ensures the protection of the most vulnerable and at-risk groups; strong accountability and transparency measures; strict regulation and prohibitions as necessary on the use of AI in the context of law enforcement and migration; and access to effective remedy and redress.
This grant supported Civio to pursue long-term strategic litigation against the Spanish government, arguing that the algorithms that affect people, including their source code, need to be made public. Civio filed more than ten access to information requests about known AI/ADM systems in Spanish public administrations.
They used data journalism to raise awareness and explain the impacts of digitisation of public services to vulnerable people and were one of the founding organisations a coalition of Spanish civil society organisations working in AI topics: IA Ciudadana.
Algorithm Audit used its 'algoprudence' methodology to gather independent experts to give advice when an algorithm might be treating people unfairly, and tests tools that can find and reduce bias. To decide what "fair AI" means in each case, it combines human judgment about right and wrong with the ability of statistics to check large amounts of data.
Danes je nov dan empowered a coalition of NGOs, journalists and activists to engage in debates regarding the future of AI in Slovenia right when a new Research Centre on AI was being set up, and when Slovenia was rolling out new AI development programme.
Danes je nov dan focused on transparency and accountability to the use of AI/ADM in the public sector, and launched a public register of AI systems used by public bodies in Slovenia.
GFF promoted a fundamental rights-based approach to automated decision-making systems and laid the groundwork for future litigation against restrictions on platform users' rights.
When the EU Council proposed "Chat Control", which would require messaging services to scan for child sexual abuse material, GFF helped shape Germany's position. It argued that error-prone AI filters would invade the privacy of millions of users and risk wrongly accusing them of serious crimes.
Ada Lovelace Institute informed public and political debates on the AI Liability Directive and AI Act (“the AI Framework”) and other relevant laws by their research on their implications and impact on people and society. Shaped technical standards of the AI Framework to include fundamental rights. Developed and advocated for audit, impact assessment and evaluation methodologies that can be used to ensure the effective implementation of regulation.1) Ensure that public and political debates on the AI Liability Directive and AI Act (“the AI Framework”) and other relevant laws are well informed by interdisciplinary research into their implications and impact on people and society.
2) Support the effective implementation of the AI Framework through participation in and shaping of standard development mechanisms to ensure technical standards embed fundamental rights.
3) Develop and advocate for audit, impact assessment and evaluation methodologies that can be used to ensure the effective implementation of regulation.
