2024-06-13 –, Room C - Podcast Space
In September 2022, the World Benchmarking Alliance (WBA) launched the Collective Impact Coalition for Ethical AI (“CIC for Ethical AI”), a collaborative engagement initiative aimed at driving measurable progress in the adoption of ethical AI principles by digital technology companies assessed under the Digital Inclusion Benchmark. As of April 2024, the initiative comprises 60 investors as well as 12 non-governmental organizations, research institutions, and other entities that collectively form a broad civil society arm. The campaign, builds on the findings of WBA’s Digital Inclusion Benchmark, which has revealed large transparency gaps in companies’ disclosures on ethical AI.
In its first phase (Sep 2022 – Feb 2024), the investor wing of the CIC has coordinated engagement efforts by lead and supporting investors for each company, with the primary aim of eliciting public ethical AI principles from those that lacked them. Through a structured allocation process that incorporated their engagement preferences, investors were assigned lead or supporting roles and sought dialogue with the companies, subsequently reporting on the outcomes in quarterly CIC investor meetings and via reporting forms.
The CIC for Ethical AI is currently in Phase 2. In this new phase, the initiative’s formal scope will expand to include three new expectations of companies, building on the core expectation of publishing their AI principles. Companies will be asked to demonstrate i) how they are implementing their published AI principles; ii) how AI risks are reflected in their human rights impact assessments, and iii) what governance mechanisms underpin the development, deployment, and procurement of AI technology. The CIC will continue to engage with the companies that do not yet have public ethical AI principles. However, its coverage will expand to all 200 companies evaluated in the 2023 Digital Inclusion Benchmark.
The session will share the benchmark findings, the experiences of the CIC and will crowdsource ideas for bringing more members of civil society and investors together. The session is an opportunity for individuals to come together to share their experiences and learnings with working to hold companies to account on their actions and commitments to ethical AI.
In 2022, Ilayda works at WBA as a Research Analyst for the Digital Inclusion Benchmark. She is passionate about the impact of digital companies and intersectional environmentalism. Ilayda is driven by making change and creating good impact on the world. She believes that closing the corporate accountability gap is key to achieve sustainable development. Before joining WBA, Ilayda worked for IDH Sustainable Trade Initiative as a gender intern in the Netherlands. She also has experience of work for business-oriented non-profit organizations and women-led start-ups based in Türkiye. Ilayda holds an LLM degree on International and European Law with a specialization on Global Sustainability and Environmental Law from the Tilburg University.
Joined WBA in 2022 as a Research Analyst for the Digital Inclusion Benchmarks. She is passionate about the effects of digital technologies on people and society. Believes that companies should due their fair share to reduce the digital divide. Prior to joining WBA, she worked as a consultant for the research department at the Inter-American Development Bank researching topics related to the digitization of health care. Holds an MSc. in Economics and Public Policy from Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez in Santiago, Chile and a BA in Economics from the University of Rochester, NY. Born and raised in Nicaragua, she is currently based in The Netherlands.