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.
In response to a shareholder proposal that would require the company to produce a public report on how nondisclosure agreements affect harassment and discrimination claims, Google parent Alphabet said in a proxy statement that its “employment, severance, and settlement agreements do not prohibit the disclosure of facts underlying claims of harassment or discrimination.” A shareholder proposal to study the risks associated with confidentiality clauses also passed a vote.
“For the last year or so we have been filing shareholder proposals and pressing companies on this subject,” said Michael Connor, executive director of Open Mic, one of the members of the Transparency in Employment Agreements, or TEA Coalition, which has been pressuring shareholders to act. Salesforce was facing a proxy vote at an upcoming annual meeting asking it to prepare a report on how mandatory so-called concealment clauses might stifle disclosure. The announcement today withdraws that proposal.
