Report: Strategic actions for philanthropy and civil society on the enforcement of the EU AI Act
Strategic engagement by public interest advocates in the implementation and enforcement of the European Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act) will be crucial in determining whether regulation in Europe can effectively ensure accountability in AI use. Over the next two years, the detail and practical implementation of the AI Act will be decided. A new report, commissioned by the European AI & Society Fund and conducted by the European Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ECNL), outlines opportunities for civil society to act and provides guidance for philanthropy to resource this work.
Download the full report here (pdf),
Download an accessible version in a word format here.
With effective implementation and enforcement, the AI Act presents an opportunity to challenge the harmful impacts of AI on people and communities and demand accountability over its use. This could ensure that bans on the most harmful AI systems, like remote biometric identification (RBI), are tightly drawn, that products like ChatGPT have to address the systemic risks they pose to society, and that exemptions around national security and migration are limited. But without active civil society participation, the next two years are an opportunity for industry to slacken rules and widen loopholes, limiting the final effectiveness of the law.
The success of public interest advocates will determine the future direction of AI not just in Europe, but also in the many countries across the globe that look set to follow the EU’s regulatory lead.
The European AI & Society Fund commissioned this report to help guide resources towards organisations and movements that can advocate, litigate, gather evidence, monitor, campaign and build coalitions to make sure the new AI regulation serves people and society.
How to get involved?
We’re developing grantmaking programmes under our new Breakthrough Initiative that will support public interest advocates from social justice and digital rights organisations across Europe to test and use the newly established mechanisms for AI accountability. If you are a civil society organisation, sign up to our newsletter to hear when these grantmaking programmes go live.
If you are a funder that’s working on technology and society, or that’s thinking about funding public interest work in this area, please get in touch to discuss how we can collaborate. We will also host a Funders’ Learning Lunch on 26 September to explore the findings and recommendations of this work in more detail. If you work in philanthropy and would like to receive an invitation, please get in touch.