Global AI governance: Taking action with civil society

The third wheel

AI has been profoundly transforming numerous areas of our lives, including access to online information and certain public services. It is thus crucial that the plurality of viewpoints of the players that make up society, with their cultural, social and ethical differences, and their diverse economic and geopolitical concerns, be represented. All too often, however, the mobilisation of civil society does not go beyond the consultation stage. Typically, its voice is only heard once the decisions have been taken, in a performative and tick-the-box manner.

The public consultation organised ahead of the summit demonstrated once again the value of involving civil society in global AI governance efforts. Defining the common good in the age of artificial intelligence requires the participation of all sections of society and the representation of the various interests at stake, in addition to those of private and state players. If this participation is to be effective, civil society representatives must be given a permanent seat at the table.

Equal legitimacy with other stakeholders

Civil society is a key stakeholder, able to challenge the goals and claims of players defending their own interests. In the case of AI governance, it brings specific evidence and expertise and an indispensable perspective, particularly at three levels.

First, it acts as a whistleblower. It raises awareness and calls attention to key issues that would otherwise be overlooked: respect for fundamental rights and freedoms, biases leading to discrimination against minorities or populations that are already vulnerable, the effects of “addictive” recommendation algorithms on young people’s mental health. Second, it helps to define methods for assessing these issues and devising solutions, in the public interest, and carries out in-depth investigations, building on lessons learned from other sectors. Last but not least, it provides expertise in human rights and ethics, as well as technical expertise.

Our call to action

In the field of AI governance, as in many other areas, limited funding, opaque selection processes and the risks of instrumentalisation undermine civil society’s ability to participate effectively. In the run-up to the Paris AI Action Summit, we request organisers to urgently implement three concrete measures to strengthen and facilitate the involvement of civil society in AI governance, during and especially after the summit:

1 – Support more open and transparent selection processes
Clarifying and opening the selection processes for civil society’s participation in expert groups (in standardisation processes, within the European commission, etc.) and making them public is essential to ensure fair representation and restore trust. Opportunities for civil society participation should also be widened: we recommend opening up these participation spaces organised by public authorities or private players to a wider spectrum of organisations, beyond the most established ones.

2 – Impose a duty to respond to contributions
There are often no mechanisms in place to ensure that civil society contributions are actually taken into account. We call on the summit participants to encourage the establishment of clear mechanisms for feedback and reporting on the integration of civil society inputs into AI-related policies and practices.

3 – Facilitate funding
Many civil society organisations have extremely limited resources. Setting up dedicated funds or processes to encourage their funding, would enable them to contribute effectively and sustainably to AI governance efforts.

Simply consulting civil society in a superficial manner or highlighting its presence through media operations is no longer enough. It is now time to give civil society representatives a full and permanent seat at the table, so that they can become leading partners in the development of policies and guidelines, and in adjusting AI tools. The Paris AI Action Summit provides an opportunity to rebalance the powers between all the players who should have a say in the global governance of AI. Let’s not miss it.

List of signatories

Jessica Galissaire, Studies Manager, Renaissance Numérique
Rémy Gerbet, Executive Director, Wikimedia France
Justine Atlan, Executive Director, Association e-Enfance/3018
Gary Marcus, Professor Emeritus, New York University
Sarah Andrew, Legal and Campaign Director, Avaaz
Anna Wohlfarth, Executive Director, interface
Vanja Skoric, Program Director, European Center for Not-For-Profit Law
Karine Caunes, Executive Director, Digihumanism – Centre for AI and Digital Humanism
Matthias Spielkamp, Executive Director, AlgorithmWatch
Gbenga Sesan, Executive Director, Paradigm Initiative
Mariana Rielli, Director, Data Privacy Brasil
Nicolas Chagny, President, Internet Society (ISOC) France
Karine Gentelet, Scientific Director, in charge of Relationships with Civil Society, OBVIA
Angela Mueller, Executive Director, AlgorithmWatch CH
Jeni Tennison, Executive Director, Connected by Data
Jean-François Lucas, General Manager, Renaissance Numérique
Mélusine Blondel, Co-Director, La Mednum
Jann Büscher, Co-Director, La Mednum
David Evan Harris, Chancellor’s Public Scholar, University of California, Berkeley
Valérie Fernandez, Professor & RD-ID Chair, Télécom Paris
Damien Jacob, Guest Lecturer, ULiege
Stephen Russel, Director General, ANEC (The European consumer voice in standardisation)
Alice Stollmeyer, Founder & Executive Director, Defend Democracy
Anna Obem, Managing Director, Panoptykon Foundation
Tania Duarte, Founder, We and AI
Rachel Coldicutt OBE, Executive Director, Careful Trouble
Kim Thompson, Founder, United We Rise UK
Kyle Taylor, Founder, Fair Vote UK
Ryan Carrier, Executive Director, ForHumanity
Ben Stewart, Founder/Managing Director, Caution Your Blast Ltd.
Maxime Fournes, Co-Founder, Engineer and AI Researcher, PauseIA
Irénée Régnauld, Associate Researcher, COSTECH (Connaissance, organisation et systèmes techniques) Lab, Université de Technologie de Compiègne
Dr Nora Ni Loideain, Director, Information Law & Policy Centre, Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, University of London
Yonah Welker, EU Commission projects evaluator, rapporteur, prev. tech envoy, ministry of AI advisor
Martin Parker, Professor of organization studies, University of Bristol Business School
Anthony Masure, Associate Professor, Haute école d’art et design de Genève (HEAD, HES-SO)
Sara (Meg) Davis, Professor, Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies, University of Warwick
Simon Buckingham Shum, Professor of Learning Informatics, University of Technology Sydney
Mike Podmore, CEO, STOPAIDS
Maria Farrell, Writer and Speaker
Peter Flach, Professor of Artificial Intelligence, University of Bristol
Luke Stark, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Information & Media Studies (FIMS), Western University, London, Ontario
Yaniv Benhamou, Professor, Lawyer, IT Law, Digital Law Center, Université de Genève