ESG Investor
Michael Connor
Keeping up with AI

With AI-related risks being inherently global in nature, the hope and anticipation is that there will be a suitably robust regulatory environment wherever the technology is deployed, Michael Connor, Executive Director at Open MIC, tells ESG Investor.

“Many companies have global activities, so we need to ensure that if they are applying a higher standard in Europe due to EU regulations, this should be the case wherever they operate to foster greater corporate accountability in the deployment and use of digital technologies,” he says.

Keeping up with AI

Keeping up with AI

Keeping up with AI

With AI-related risks being inherently global in nature, the hope and anticipation is that there will be a suitably robust regulatory environment wherever the technology is deployed, Michael Connor, Executive Director at Open MIC, tells ESG Investor.

“Many companies have global activities, so we need to ensure that if they are applying a higher standard in Europe due to EU regulations, this should be the case wherever they operate to foster greater corporate accountability in the deployment and use of digital technologies,” he says.

The Human Cost Of Efficiency And Why It Should Matter To All Investors

The Human Cost Of Efficiency And Why It Should Matter To All Investors

As Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), a coalition of faith-based and values-based investors, and OpenMIC, a nonprofit focused on responsible use of digital technologies, explain in their new report, Dehumanization, Discrimination and Deskilling: The Impact of Digital Tech on Low-Wage Workers, a critical element of algorithmic management systems is the monitoring and surveillance of workers in violation of their human rights.

Some Shareholders Aren't Happy About Alphabet's Lack of Transparency Over Artificial Intelligence

Some Shareholders Aren't Happy About Alphabet's Lack of Transparency Over Artificial Intelligence

“Generative AI makes up information. It creates information and misinformation that doesn’t exist. So, yeah, there are a wide number of experts that are concerned about it, and the shareholder proposal at Alphabet, and one that we’ve raised at other companies, reflects that concern. One survey shows that people, because of generative AI and those concerns about generative AI, they are eroding public trust in technology generally, and that’s one of the things that concerns us about the public franchise that these companies have.”

AI Proposals Ask Tech Giants to go “Beyond Platitudes”

AI Proposals Ask Tech Giants to go “Beyond Platitudes”

“These AI resolutions are just the beginning – this is not something that we see as a one off,” said Dheere. “AI is here to stay and it is in the interest of civil society, investors, companies, and governments policymakers to maintain focus on how we integrate it constructively into society while protecting human rights – and, frankly, the companies that are creating it.”

The Role of Shareholder Activism in Tech Accountability

The Role of Shareholder Activism in Tech Accountability

Michael Connor of Open MIC: “…we've embarked over the years on a whole range of issues ranging from the need for federal privacy laws writ large to artificial intelligence, facial recognition, all sorts of issues. And more recently working with both Arjuna and with my colleague Jessica at Open MIC on questions of artificial intelligence and what that means for misinformation and disinformation and as well dealing with Ekō and Christina as well. So the three organizations have been involved in a big effort lately about artificial intelligence.”

'Existential Risks': AI Anxiety Fueling Stream of Shareholder Proposals

'Existential Risks': AI Anxiety Fueling Stream of Shareholder Proposals

Arjuna Capital, which specializes in sustainable investing and manages $319 million, partnered with the advocacy group Open MIC to submit proposals calling on Alphabet and Meta to produce in-depth reports on the dangers of generative AI’s deployment in misinformation campaigns and how the companies plan to address them.

“Alphabet and Meta need to assure billions of users and their shareholders that their management and boards are up to the task of responsibly managing [AI] technology,” Open MIC Executive Director Michael Connor said.

What is the pro-Israel philanthropist on TikTok’s board doing about antisemitism on the app?

What is the pro-Israel philanthropist on TikTok’s board doing about antisemitism on the app?

“Their desire to maximize the value of TikTok may conflict with their desire to promote the interests of the Jewish people and Israel,” said Michael Connor, the executive director of Open MIC, an advocacy organization focused on corporate accountability in the tech industry. “There may be that conflict and they may not want to wade into it. It’s a complicated situation.”

Will Democracy Die in AI’s Black Box? Not If These Shareholders Can Help It

Will Democracy Die in AI’s Black Box? Not If These Shareholders Can Help It

Without that trust, no system or institution that relies on the accurate communication and assimilation of fact—not democracy, not financial markets, not health or the environment, not small business, not policy advocacy, not human rights—will survive as we know it.

Before we reach the tipping point, which I and many of my colleague’s think may well be next year’s elections, it would behoove us to remember that other axiom about moving fast: Speed kills.

Harvard doxing and content moderation

Harvard doxing and content moderation

Tech firms began reporting details about government interactions a decade ago, under pressure from investors. Takedown demands from private parties - as in the Harvard case - can put companies in the awkward position of choosing sides, said Michael Connor, executive director of Open Mic, which has successfully pressed companies for details about government requests. Connor said of Google that like other tech companies, "They don't like being in the position of being content moderators, and they'd rather they didn't have to."

Can tech protect US schools from mass shootings?

Can tech protect US schools from mass shootings?

"We should not be turning the classroom into a combat zone or a surveillance zone," said Michael Connor, executive director of Open MIC, a nonprofit that is urging Axon's shareholders to vote to abandon the drone plan in schools and other public places at a shareholder meeting next month.

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