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

Alphabet

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.

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Tech activist pushes for Alphabet racial equity audit

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Tech activist pushes for Alphabet racial equity audit

"All the shareholder proposal asks, Is that an independent third party examiner come in and look at the evidence in an organized manner and try to help the company understand what its products are doing to people," Michael Connor, one of the activists, said in an interview Tuesday with Reuters.

Activists, workers press Google founders to support racial equity audit

Activists, workers press Google founders to support racial equity audit

“Alphabet is one of the most influential companies on the planet that shapes people’s attitudes about all sorts of things through search, through YouTube,” said Michael Connor, executive director of Open MIC, a corporate responsibility group that also signed the letters. “The proposal … is not an extraordinary request.”

Shareholders and regulators target big tech over social concerns

Shareholders and regulators target big tech over social concerns

“We need to be realistic about the outcomes, especially at companies like Alphabet and Meta which have ‘dual class’ shares that give the company founders and other insiders powerful voting rights that make shareholder initiatives extremely challenging,” said Michael Connor, Director at Open MIC, a nonprofit which campaigns for corporate accountability in media and tech.

Annual shareholder meetings: A new battlefront for tech workers

Annual shareholder meetings: A new battlefront for tech workers

To Michael Connor, executive director of Open MIC, a nonprofit that works with sustainable funds to organize shareholder proposals, that's a sign that things are trending in the right direction. "Over time even if shareholder proposals are voted down, it doesn't mean directors don't have a fiduciary duty to worry about those issues and be concerned about them," Connor said.

Shareholder activists demand reforms from Amazon, Google, and Facebook

Shareholder activists demand reforms from Amazon, Google, and Facebook

“Face surveillance dramatically expands law enforcement’s power and threatens rights including privacy, freedom of expression, freedom of association, and due process for everyone. But the threats are greatest for Black and Brown communities, Muslim communities, immigrant communities, Indigenous communities, and other people historically and currently marginalized and targeted by policing,” Michael Connor, executive director of Open MIC, a nonprofit advocating for Harrington, said in a statement.

Tech giants face rising pressure from shareholder activists

Tech giants face rising pressure from shareholder activists

Tech giants are facing increasing pressure from activists to adopt proposals aimed at expanding whistleblower protections, investigating potential civil rights violations and curbing hate speech online.

Activist shareholders are pushing for the proposals to be adopted during this week’s annual meetings, the first to be held after a year that’s included nationwide Black Lives Matter protests, a deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol and challenging working conditions for many on-site workers in the tech industry.

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