Access Now is a civil society organisation working on promoting and defending the digital rights of users around the world. Its advocacy and policy-related work focuses on five issues areas: privacy, freedom of expression, digital security, business and human rights, and net discrimination.
Access Now’s activities in the area of artificial intelligence (AI) include advocacy work, publishing policy papers and reports, and contributing to international discussions. In 2018, together with Amnesty International, Access Now launched a declaration on human rights and AI. Titled The Toronto Declaration on protecting the rights to equality and non-discrimination in machine learning systems, the document affirms the obligations and responsibilities of states and private sector actors with regard to promoting, protecting, and respecting human rights – in particular equality and non-discrimination – in the development and use of machine learning systems. The declaration clearly underlines that international human rights frameworks also apply to AI and that states have a duty to uphold their obligations and responsibilities as set out by these frameworks. In the same year, Access Now published
- a report mapping strategies and proposals for the regulation of AI in Europe, focusing in particular on assessing them against a set of principles and human rights.
- a report on Human rights in the age of artificial intelligence, with recommendations for governments and private sector entities on how to address AI-related human rights harms.
- a case study on Law enforcement use of AI-powered facial recognition.
As part of its advocacy work, Access Now often publishes policy papers, statements, and commentary reflecting the organisation’s position with regard to national and international policies and processes related to AI and human rights. Examples include comments on the draft recommendation of the Committee of Ministers to member states on the human rights impacts of algorithmic systems, a submission to the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science’s paper Artificial Intelligence: Australia’s Ethics Framework, and comments on the Ethics Guidelines for Trustworthy AI released by the European Commission’s High-Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence.
Access Now is also a member of the Partnership on AI, an international coalition focused on promoting responsible use of AI.
- Advocates for the applicability of frameworks of international human rights law and standards in the development and use of AI.
- Advocates for governments and private sector actors to uphold their obligations under international law and standards related to human rights.