Open MIC and ICCR recently collaborated to release “Dehumanization, Discrimination and Deskilling: The Impact of Digital Tech on Low-Wage Workers.” The investor brief explores how surveillance tech, algorithmic management systems, displacement by AI and automated hiring tools contribute to increased workplace discrimination, diminished autonomy, and reduced job quality.
Encouraged by strong votes at AI companies, as well as Microsoft’s inaugural Responsible AI Transparency Report, Open MIC and partners seek to build momentum for more disclosure and remediation of AI risks.
Investors in Meta Inc. and Alphabet Inc. used votes at their recent annual meetings to highlight serious concerns about the deployment of generative artificial intelligence (gAI) technology and its potential to generate harmful disinformation and misinformation. A shareholder proposal at Meta won 56.3% of the independent shareholder vote, while a similar proposal at Alphabet won 45.7% of the independent shareholder vote.
At Meta’s annual meeting last week, a majority of independent shareholders (53.6%), representing $635 billion in market cap, voted in favor of a proposition demanding more disclosure of the costs and risks associated with the development and deployment of generative AI products. Alphabet shareholders will vote on a similar resolution this Friday.
Over the next two weeks, shareholders at Meta and Alphabet will vote on first-time resolutions calling for more disclosure on the costs and risks of generative AI to the company and society, and on how the companies are mitigating those risks. To date, neither company reports on how well it adheres to the promises it makes with regard to AI, a trend with a long precedent in the social media era.
The big tech companies have tremendous positive potential, and tremendous capacity to harm. Over the past several years, investors have turned up the pressure on tech, shattering shareholder proposal records and making the case for responsible and rights-respecting corporate governance. Open MIC has been, and continues to be, an important part of that effort.
This year, Amazon is facing an astonishing eighteen proposals from its own shareholders at its annual general meeting—a record number for any single company in a given year. The proposals—all of which the company opposes—call on Amazon to answer tough questions on a variety of technology impacts, labor practices, and corporate governance concerns.
JUNE 11, 2020 — Following intense pressure from shareholders and media justice and civil rights organizations, Amazon announced yesterday that it will impose a one-year moratorium on police use of Rekognition, the company’s highly-criticized and racially biased facial recognition technology. In response to the company’s announcement yesterday, Michael Connor, Executive Director of Open MIC––a non-profit that works with shareholders to foster corporate accountability in the tech sector––said, “This is welcome news after years of shareholders’ organizing to push Amazon to end sales of harmful, unregulated technology to police. But it’s only a temporary moratorium, and it doesn’t address deeper concerns that shareholders have regarding Amazon’s role in a rapidly-developing surveillance economy.”
NEW YORK CITY - June 1, 2020 – Shareholders of Facebook and Amazon (whose names are not Mark Zuckerberg or Jeff Bezos) are sending an important message regarding a host of serious concerns affecting corporate governance, political advertising, facial recognition, surveillance and other critical civil rights issues.
After Amazon tried—and failed—to block a resolution filed by shareholders asking the company’s Board of Directors to conduct an independent review of the effectiveness of Amazon’s customer due diligence process, including whether customers’ use of Amazon products results in human rights violations.
In a major victory for investors, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ruled late yesterday that Amazon must give shareholders an opportunity to consider and vote on two separate shareholder resolutions that address major business risks posed by the sale of Amazon's facial recognition technology to government agencies. The SEC’s ruling comes amidst mounting criticism of the Amazon technology, “Rekognition,” as racially biased.
Citing critical concerns over immigrant surveillance of vulnerable communities, racial profiling, and other civil and human rights violations, Amazon shareholders have filed a resolution asking the company to prohibit sales of “Rekognition”, Amazon’s facial recognition technology, to government agencies — unless the company’s Board concludes the technology does not pose actual or potential civil and human rights risk.
