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.
Earlier this week, Arjuna Capital filed a lengthy rebuttal to Meta that cited a laundry list of the social media giant’s most famous scandals, from the Cambridge Analytica privacy lapse to its role in facilitating the deadly insurrection at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Open Mic Executive Director Michael Connor, whose group is working with Arjuna Capital, told me it’s because of that track record that an independent assessment of the technology underlying the metaverse is necessary.
Michael Connor, the executive director of Open MIC (Media and Information Companies Initiative), a nonprofit that works on socially responsible investing and is also part of the coalition, said the law is “simply good business.”
“These resolutions are based on a simple premise: Companies benefit from knowing when sexual harassment, discrimination and unlawful behavior are happening in the workplace, which is why employees should be encouraged to speak out about such conduct,” he said.
“There’s an arrogance about it that just cries out for some sort of justice,” said Michael Connor, executive director of Open MIC (Media and Information Companies Initiative), a nonprofit that works on socially responsible investing. Socially responsible investing — also known as environmental, social and governance (ESG) — has grown more popular in recent years, and is especially so among younger investors. Surveys show they care more about investing in companies whose values align with theirs than their older counterparts.
“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 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.
