Scientists around the world call to protect research on one of humanity’s greatest short-term threats – Disinformation

Curated on Posted on by Stefaan Verhulst

Forum on Democracy and Information: “At a critical time for understanding digital communications’ impact on societies, research on disinformation is endangered. 

In August, researchers around the world bid farewell to CrowdTangle – the Meta-owned social media monitoring tool. The decision by Meta to close the number one platform used to track mis- and disinformation, in what is a major election year, only to present its alternative tool Meta Content Library and API, has been met with a barrage of criticism.

If, as suggested by the World Economic Forum’s 2024 global risk report, disinformation is one of the biggest short-term threats to humanity, our collective ability to understand how it spreads and impacts our society is crucial. Just as we would not impede scientific research into the spread of viruses and disease, nor into natural ecosystems or other historical and social sciences, disinformation research must be permitted to be carried out unimpeded and with access to information needed to understand its complexity. Understanding the political economy of disinformation as well as its technological dimensions is also a matter of public health, democratic resilience, and national security.

By directly affecting the research community’s ability to open social media black boxes, this radical decision will also, in turn, hamper public understanding of how technology affects democracy. Public interest scrutiny is also essential for the next era of technology, notably for the world’s largest AI systems, which are similarly proprietary and opaque. The research community is already calling on AI companies to learn from the mistakes of social media and guarantee protections for good faith research. The solution falls on multiple shoulders and the global scientific community, civil society, public institutions and philanthropies must come together to meaningfully foster and protect public interest research on information and democracy…(More)”.

Leveraging AI for Democracy: Civic Innovation on the New Digital Playing Field

Curated on Posted on by Stefaan Verhulst

Report by Beth Kerley, Carl Miller, and Fernanda Campagnucci: “Like social media before them, new AI tools promise to change the game when it comes to civic engagement. These technologies offer bold new possibilities for investigative journalists, anticorruption advocates, and others working with limited resources to advance democratic norms.

Yet the transformation wrought by AI advances is far from guaranteed to work in democracy’s favor. Potential threats to democracy from AI have drawn wide attention. To better the odds for prodemocratic actors in a fluid technological environment, systematic thinking about how to make AI work for democracy is needed.

The essays in this report outline possible paths toward a prodemocratic vision for AI. An overview essay by Beth Kerley based on insights from an International Forum for Democratic Studies expert workshop reflects on the critical questions that confront organizations seeking to deploy AI tools. Fernanda Campagnucci, spotlighting the work of Open Knowledge Brasil to open up government data, explores how AI advances are creating new opportunities for citizens to scrutinize public information. Finally, Demos’s Carl Miller sheds light on how AI technologies that enable new forms of civic deliberation might change the way we think about democratic participation itself…(More)“.

The paradox of climate data in West Africa: growing urgency coupled with diminishing accessibility

Curated on Posted on by Stefaan Verhulst

Cirad: “In 2022, a prolonged drought devastated maize crops in northern Burkina Faso, leaving two million people without sufficient food resources. This dramatic situation could have been better anticipated and its impacts could have been mitigated with the collection and equitable sharing of specific data: that of agrometeorology, the science that studies the effects of meteorological, climatological and hydrological factors on crops.

Although it is too late to prevent the 2022 drought, protecting people from future droughts remains an urgent priority, especially in Africa, a continent where climate change poses a serious threat to rainfed agriculture, its main agricultural and economic activity.

To anticipate these climate risks, it is essential to have access to reliable meteorological data, which is crucial for ensuring sustainable and resilient agricultural practices. Yet in West Africa, the accessibility and reliability of this data are increasingly threatened and face unprecedented diplomatic, economic and security challenges…(More)”.

Federal Court Invalidates NYC Law Requiring Food Delivery Apps to Share Customer Data with Restaurants

Curated on Posted on by Stefaan Verhulst

Article by Hunton, Andrews, Kurth: “On September 24, 2024, a federal district court held that New York City’s “Customer Data Law” violates the First Amendment. Passed in the summer of 2021, the law requires food-delivery apps to share customer-specific data with restaurants that prepare delivered meals.

The New York City Council enacted the Customer Data Law to boost the local restaurant industry in the wake of the pandemic. The law requires food-delivery apps to provide restaurants (upon the restaurants’ request) with each diner’s full name, email address, phone number, delivery address, and order contents. Customers may opt out of such sharing. The law’s supporters argue that requiring such disclosure addresses exploitation by the delivery apps and helps restaurants advertise more effectively.

Normally, when a customer places an order through a food-delivery app, the app provides the restaurant with the customer’s first name, last initial and food order. Food-delivery apps share aggregate data analytics with restaurants but generally do not share customer-specific data beyond the information necessary to fulfill an order. Some apps, for example, provide restaurants with data related to their menu performance, customer feedback and daily operations.

Major food-delivery app companies challenged the Customer Data Law, arguing that its data sharing requirement compels speech impermissibly under the First Amendment. Siding with the apps, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York declared the city’s law invalid, holding that its data sharing requirement is not appropriately tailored to a substantial government interest…(More)”.

Climate and health data website launched

Curated on Posted on by Stefaan Verhulst

Article by Susan Cosier: “A new website of data resources, tools, and training materials that can aid researchers in studying the consequences of climate change on the health of communities nationwide is now available. At the end of July, NIEHS launched the Climate and Health Outcomes Research Data Systems (CHORDS) website, which includes a catalog of environmental and health outcomes data from various government and nongovernmental agencies.

The website provides a few resources of interest, including a catalog of data resources to aid researchers in finding relevant data for their specific research projects; an online training toolkit that provides tutorials and walk-throughs of downloading, integrating, and visualizing health and environmental data; a listing of publications of note on wildfire and health research; and links to existing resources, such as the NIEHS climate change and health glossary and literature portal.

The catalog includes a listing of dozens of data resources provided by different federal and state environmental and health sources. Users can sort the listing based on environmental and health measures of interest — such as specific air pollutants or chemicals — from data providers including NASA and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency with many more to come…(More)”.

Improving Governance Outcomes Through AI Documentation: Bridging Theory and Practice 

Curated on Posted on by Stefaan Verhulst

Report by Amy Winecoff, and Miranda Bogen: “AI documentation is a foundational tool for governing AI systems, via both stakeholders within and outside AI organizations. It offers a range of stakeholders insight into how AI systems are developed, how they function, and what risks they may pose. For example, it might help internal model development, governance, compliance, and quality assurance teams communicate about and manage risk throughout the development and deployment lifecycle. Documentation can also help external technology developers determine what testing they should perform on models they incorporate into their products, or it could guide users on whether or not to adopt a technology. While documentation is essential for effective AI governance, its success depends on how well organizations tailor their documentation approaches to meet the diverse needs of stakeholders, including technical teams, policymakers, users, and other downstream consumers of the documentation.

This report synthesizes findings from an in-depth analysis of academic and gray literature on documentation, encompassing 37 proposed methods for documenting AI data, models, systems, and processes, along with 21 empirical studies evaluating the impact and challenges of implementing documentation. Through this synthesis, we identify key theoretical mechanisms through which AI documentation can enhance governance outcomes. These mechanisms include informing stakeholders about the intended use, limitations, and risks of AI systems; facilitating cross-functional collaboration by bridging different teams; prompting ethical reflection among developers; and reinforcing best practices in development and governance. However, empirical evidence offers mixed support for these mechanisms, indicating that documentation practices can be more effectively designed to achieve these goals…(More)”.

Why Is There Data?

Curated on Posted on by Stefaan Verhulst

Paper by David Sisson and Ilan Ben-Meir: “In order for data to become truly valuable (and truly useful), that data must first be processed. The question animating this essay is thus a straightforward one: What sort of processing must data undergo, in order to become valuable? While the question may be obvious, its answers are anything but; indeed, reaching them will require us to pose, answer – and then revise our answers to – several other questions that will prove trickier than they first appear: Why is data valuable – what is it for? What is “data”? And what does “working with data” actually involve?…(More)”

AI in Global Development Playbook

Curated on Posted on by Stefaan Verhulst

USAID Playbook: “…When used effectively and responsibly, AI holds the potential to accelerate progress on sustainable development and close digital divides, but it also poses risks that could further impede progress toward these goals. With the right enabling environment and ecosystem of actors, AI can enhance efficiency and accelerate development outcomes in sectors such as health, education, agriculture, energy, manufacturing, and delivering public services. The United States aims to ensure that the benefits of AI are shared equitably across the globe.

Distilled from consultations with hundreds of government officials, non-governmental organizations, technology firms and startups, and individuals from around the world, the AI in Global Development Playbook is a roadmap to develop the capacity, ecosystems, frameworks, partnerships, applications, and institutions to leverage safe, secure, and trustworthy AI for sustainable development.

The United States’ current efforts are grounded in the belief that AI, when developed and deployed responsibly, can be a powerful force for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and addressing some of the world’s most urgent challenges. Looking ahead, the United States will continue to support low- and middle-income countries through funding, advocacy, and convening efforts–collectively navigating the complexities of the digital age and working toward a future in which the benefits of technological development are widely shared.

This Playbook seeks to underscore AI as a uniquely global opportunity with far-reaching impacts and potential risks. It highlights that safe, secure, and trustworthy design, deployment, and use of AI is not only possible but essential. Recognizing that international cooperation and multi-stakeholder partnerships are key in achieving progress, we invite others to contribute their expertise, resources, and perspectives to enrich and expand this framework.

The true measure of progress in responsible AI is not in the sophistication of our machines but in the quality of life the technology enhances. Together we can work toward ensuring the promise of AI is realized in service of this goal…(More)”

Artificial intelligence (AI) in action: A preliminary review of AI use for democracy support

Curated on Posted on by Stefaan Verhulst

Policy paper by Grahm Tuohy-Gaydos: “…provides a working definition of AI for Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD) and the broader democracy support sector. It then provides a preliminary review of how AI is being used to enhance democratic practices worldwide, focusing on several themes including: accountability and transparency, elections, environmental democracy, inclusion, openness and participation, and women’s political leadership. The paper also highlights potential risks and areas of development in the future. Finally, the paper shares five recommendations for WFD and democracy support organisations to consider advancing their ‘digital democracy’ agenda. This policy paper also offers additional information regarding AI classification and other resources for identifying good practice and innovative solutions. Its findings may be relevant to WFD staff members, international development practitioners, civil society organisations, and persons interested in using emerging technologies within governmental settings…(More)”.

Critical Dependencies: How power consolidation of digital infrastructures threatens democracies—and what we can do about it.

Curated on Posted on by Stefaan Verhulst

Report by the Green Web Foundation: “We are at an inflection point in digital infrastructures. There is much conversation about the unprecedented speed and scale of our computational future. Significant investments are being made, especially as part of private and national efforts to “win the AI arms race.” Meanwhile, more data is becoming available about the harms of these systems. No one has perfect knowledge of the situation, and in some instances, information is being intentionally obscured or distorted. Amidst the confusion and scramble, well-resourced players are seizing strategic footholds and advancing their cause. This moment is called the “fog of enactment.”

Some of the wealthiest companies in the world spend billions in lobbying, sponsoring research, obscuring their emissions and building out parallel energy and digital infrastructures to further secure their market positions.

Meanwhile, deliberative democratic processes take time and resources. The public and, at times, democratically elected officials lack access to the data and decision-making about our digital futures. Furthermore, the technical expertise to evaluate these tradeoffs from a public interest perspective is structurally under-resourced.

This report seeks to call out these maneuvers and recommend pathways for funding in the public’s interest with a focus on the energy and climate impacts of digital infrastructures and harms caused by current ownership models. We call for actions that are ambitious, collaborative and intersectional to help redistribute more power to the public interest and to just and sustainable digital futures…(More)”.