Towards A People's Charter on AI

About us

“Towards a People’s Charter on AI” is a global campaign gathering communities, organisations, and activists from around the world (and the Global South in particular) to draw up a people-centred charter on digital technologies in general, and artificial intelligence and big data in particular.

In initiating this campaign, the International Union of Scientists (IUS), is driven by its mandate to ensure that advances in science and technology are used for human flourishing, not harm. We are joined by science groups and civil society organisations and individuals who are affected directly and indirectly by the ‘big tech’ corporations’ practices. We are supported by various government institutions, labour organisations, student organisations, academic institutions and individuals who are concerned about this historically unprecedented concentration of technology into the hands of a few corporations.

Why a People’s Charter?  

AI technology is dominated by a few corporations whose practices have been predicated on exclusionary, exploitative and harmful practices, seeking to maximise profit for their shareholders. Meanwhile the use of generative AI is becoming ubiquitous, affecting billions of us in a number of ways. It is being adopted without regard for the short- and longer-term impacts on our society and our ecology. Our voices and a critique about its uses and effects are being drowned out by distractive discussions from the industry, from existential risk theories to how the industry could regulate itself.

The People’s Charter will be a rallying call to action to ensure that the owners of these technology companies be accountable; the environmental and financial costs lead to equal benefits to humanity and be subject to fair practices, and that research and development in these areas be ethical.

The Charter process 

The process of drawing up this charter is important. We envisage it to be a living document which is forged by critical reflection and including a diversity of voices - specifically of communities and people affected by the technology. We want the process of Charter development to inspire more campaigning around justice in the digital technologies and AI. We draw inspiration from People’s Charters, such as that forged by mass movements in the anti-apartheid struggle. Thus far, organisations we have consulted with have voiced the following concerns and offer demands and solutions. This is just the beginning of this discussion as we reclaim our rights to our knowledge, our data and the use of AI for good.

Concerns raised thus far:

• The technology chain is dominated by a handful of corporations, who continuously evade accountability for their actions. This deepens global inequalities and the current digital hegemony, denies many countries of the global majorities digital sovereignty. This impacts on democratic sovereignty and economic independence.
• Generative AI is trained on unregulated information from the internet that regurgitate biased world views about race and gender - perpetuating harms and human rights abuses – fuelling violence and polarisation through dis- and misinformation also affecting learning processes. The proliferation of sexually exploitative material specifically harms women and children predisposing them to sexual and gender based violence. This is a consequence of unregulated and sloppy training and a lack of accountability for perpetrators.
• The technology is built on the backs on ‘invisible labour’ throughout the value chain – from artisanal miners who risk their lives for the critical minerals powering the hardware, to data annotators who are exploited for their work; to tech workers who are penalised for refusing to work on unethical projects.
• The data centres driving the current AI financial boom strips communities of access to valuable land, potable water and electricity, thus exacerbating our climate emergency.
• The use of AI surveillance and military technology in Palestine is a 'living laboratory' for AI-led abuses against civilian populations. Not only is the use of AI in weaponry and surveillance unethical, its deployment in Palestine reflects how inhumane it can become.

Preliminary Demands and Solutions

Global Demands

• Every country has the right to choose its own digital development path and governance model, and independently control its own digital infrastructure, data resources, and network affairs.
• Other industries which have the potential to do good or harm such as the Pharmaceutical industry have submitted to regulation in research (research trial ethics), marketing, monopolisations, patent and intellectual property IP laws. We demand that Big tech be submitted to appropriate regulations which we have a say in making.
• We maintain that many of the solutions for sustainably integreating AI into our lives can be found in open science and low-cost AI. See the "AI Resist List" for some examples.

Local Demands:

• The IUS has published a draft document to catalyse conversations around 5 main pillars. We recognise that the issues overlap, but have selected these pillars to help prioritise and spur conversation. Discussions in each pillar prioritse people-earth friendly alternatives.

The Charter Pillars

(i) Militarisation and imperialist domination

(ii) Undermining civic freedoms and human rights

iii) Labour displacement and growing inequality

iv) Unequal access to knowledge and technology

(v) Undermining education and degrading human intellectual capacities

(vi) Bias, discrimination, and manipulation of information

(vii) Social isolation and mental health

Our Partners: