Pushback against environmental activists’ and CSOs’ work increases. The parallel advancement of technology and AI amplifies state tools that target activists. ECNL is investigating how environmental activists are being harmed by laws and tech, in particular by use of AI, as well as how technology can provide safeguards and enable activists to continue and scale up their important work.
This session aims to discuss how AI impacts positively and negatively environmental activism and to exchange on examples and ideas of how to use tech and legal solutions to tackle specific challenges faced by activists by addressing the following questions in small work groups: Map the threat – how AI impacts activism? How can AI be helpful for the work of environmental activists? What tactics can be used to avoid negative impact of AI and existing technologies? What other tech-based solutions can support the work of activists?
We will collect the findings and recommendations from the workshop that will feed into our research and work to develop a set of actionable suggestions regarding tech-based solutions for activists, CSOs, and tech companies. We will disseminate the results via social media, blogs, follow-up events, so that it can be used to share lessons on how to protect other kinds of activism and protest as well.
In parallel, we will work with the interested participants (including those from MozFest2019) to turn those suggestions into strategic actions, develop and pilot tech-based ideas identified in the session, raise awareness and increase knowledge of both tech and activist community, for example, through the Mozilla Building Trustworthy AI Work Group.
Additionally, we will integrate the learning into our ongoing legal work by formulating legal safeguards for protecting environmental activists with international organisations (UN, EU, CoE-CAHAI) and national governments.
What is the goal and/or outcome of your session?:.
How will you deal with varying numbers of participants in your session?:We plan an an interactive session where everyone can contribute based on their knowledge and experience and learn from others by working together in small groups. This means that if we have many participants, we will have to break out into groups of max 5-7. Likewise, if we have 3-5 participants, we will keep it in one group. In each case, we will make sure that the event is accessible and safe for everyone. For example, through one-on-one introduction sessions, but also through explanatory video/audio recordings in collaboration with artists that provide introduction to the topic, to be disseminated before the start of the session.
ECNL is committed to empowering civil society through creating legal and policy frameworks that enable individuals, movements and organisations to exercise and protect their civic freedoms.