European AI & Society Fund

Do you work in philanthropy and want to receive news on Artificial Intelligence that centres people, human rights and justice? Look no further! 👇🏽 Our latest AI & Society Newsletter is here! In this edition: 💥 Organisers tell the stories of how gig workers are resisting to counter the power of big platforms and their fight for better conditions. Novi Sindikat SUPERRR Lab 📆 Only one week left to apply for the Fellowship Programme on AI & Market Power! 🗨 What happened at the AI & Philanthropy Summit in Amsterdam, and how can you join the conversation? Read our latest issue here: https://lnkd.in/e23xMrrw And subscribe to get our next AI & Society Newsletter directly to your inbox: https://lnkd.in/ewiFHJ8S #newsletter #AInews #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #philanthropy #humanrights #funders #justice #plaformwork #gigwork #gigeconomy

Findings of the latest report from Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) on grassroots and non-profit perspectives on #AI confirm that communities urgently need to have a voice on how #AI is used in our societies. Yet, the reality is very different: Non-profit organisations, particularly those that are grassroots, have so far not been adequately represented in such discussions or decision-making. The report investigates why and how do non-profit and grassroots organisations in the UK engage with generative AI tools and broader AI debates. Non-profit and grassroots organisations are excited about the potential for generative AI tools to increase their productivity and lighten workloads: 💡 78% use generative AI tools in some capacity 💵 47% of organisations use generative AI tools to save labour costs. Yet, organisations equally shared concerns and challenges they face: ❌ 73% of organisations use generative AI tools without any formal policies or guidelines in place. 🔏 70% are concerned about data privacy and security ⚖ 57% are concerned about representation and biases. For some, truly following their organisational values might mean stopping using generative AI tools altogether. Yet, this may prove difficult given the financial incentives to use such tools and the ease with which they are embedded across common digital platforms. ❗ Non-profits and grassroots organisations are largely excluded from wider AI discourse and shaping rules that govern how AI should be used in their communities. For the European AI & Society Fund it confirms that more work needs to be done to make sure that diverse public interest voices participate in shaping #AI policies to make sure that AI is actually used for good causes, and does not harm already marginalised people. 👉🏽 Read the full report here: https://lnkd.in/emnNySva 🙌🏽 Join us at the European AI & Society Fund to address this challenge and empower public interest advocates to make sure that AI serves people and society: https://lnkd.in/eAzN7sNx #artificialintelligence #AIforgood #AI #research #AI4all #philanthropy #report #AIforpublicgood #nonprofits #civilsociety #generativeAI #tech #technology #society

✨ Launching two new initiatives to drive the agenda on AI ✨ We are excited to announce the launch of Build & Breakthrough, two new initiatives to empower public interest advocates across Europe to drive the agenda on #AI. To succeed we need funders from across philanthropy to join this mission and shape this work with us. Artificial Intelligence is rapidly becoming embedded in the fabric of our societies: from decision making over our livelihoods and our borders, to how we receive healthcare and education. Tech giants are investing unprecedented sums in a race to capture AI infrastructure while at the same time, state institutions are deploying tech that often harms society's most vulnerable.  With the launch of Build & Breakthrough we are #scaling our efforts to change the direction of AI so that it serves people and society, not just the powerful few. Our ✨ Build Initiative ✨  will deepen our commitment to supporting a diverse and resilient civil society ecosystem working on AI in Europe with renewed funding for 18 of our current grantees. Our ✨ Breakthrough Initiative ✨  will seize the current window of strategic opportunities to fight for AI that upholds our shared democratic values. With four new grantmaking programmes it will: 🙌🏽 support bold work to use European regulation to challenge the harmful impacts of AI, 🌍  work collectively towards global governance grounded in human rights, 💡build a new political agenda for AI in the public interest 👩🏽🔧 write new narratives that centre people – not the tech industry. Over the next 18 months, we aim to bring at least €10 million more into the field through the Breakthrough Initiative, in addition to our existing funding. We have already received pledges of over €4m from both new and existing partners and will roll out grantmaking as funding is secured. We invite all #philanthropy leaders who share our vision of AI that promotes fair, inclusive and sustainable societies to participate and support this work. 🔗 Read more about the opportunity and why we are acting now on our blog: https://lnkd.in/eAzN7sNx Adessium Foundation Mott Foundation Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo MacArthur Foundation Ford Foundation Mozilla King Baudouin Foundation Luminate Limelight Foundation Oak Foundation Open Society Foundations Porticus Robert Bosch Stiftung Stiftung Mercator GmbH Fondation de France #challenge #ArtificialIntelligence #fundraising #funding #publicinterest #technology #tech #socialjustice #justice #humanrights #equity #programmes

✨ FUNDING OPPORTUNITY with Civitates ✨ Civitates has launched an open call aimed at supporting organizations working in France and Ireland that can drive the national level enforcement of the Digital Services Act (DSA) and other critical EU tech regulations. 🌐 For who is this call? Civil society organizations that are passionate about enhancing online public discourse and tackling how technology shapes information access and consumption, especially during pivotal moments for our democracies like elections. Why Apply? 💡 Support: Receive up to €200,000 in flexible, core support over two years. 💡 Networking: Collaborate with like-minded organizations and stakeholders across Europe. Eligibility: 📜Registered non-profit or can demonstrate non-profit nature 📜Experience at the national level in France and/or Ireland 📜Expertise in tech and/or public discourse-related topics (e.g. election integrity, transparency, mental health, political polarisation, racial or gender discrimination, hate speech etc.) 📜Working in coalitions, networks or can prove to collaborate with different stakeholders (CSOs, decision makers, etc) ❗The call is open also to organisations not based in France and Ireland but with a track record of working in those countries. 📅 Key Dates: Submission Deadline: September 9, 2024, 11 PM CET Notification of final selection: November 2024 Grant Start Date: January 1, 2025 🔗 Read more and apply: https://lnkd.in/dd-FK5GB 📲 Join the webinar on July 9, 2024, to learn more and ask your questions: https://lnkd.in/dRtwZWKe  #DSA #France #Ireland #technology #democracy #grant #funding #opportunity #cso #civilsociety #europe #digitalpolicy

Only a few days left before we close the call for proposals! 👇🏻

Researchers and investigators 🔍, this funding opportunity is for you! Just 6 days remain to apply for the Global Fellowship Programme on AI & Market Power! 📆 Fellows can apply for up to $70,000 and the deadline for applications is 8 July 2024. Following the release of #ChatGPT in late 2022, tech giants have raced to roll out new applications at ever greater speed and #AI hype has created an investment gold rush, concentrating capital and power among a few corporate actors. Thanks to these firms' first mover advantage, they are poised to occupy an even more powerful role in the digital infrastructure of our future. ✅ In order to shape AI to better serve people and society, it’s important to more deeply understand the market power dynamics in the current AI ecosystem and create a strong evidence base to design interventions in the public interest. 🔎 This Fellowship Programme will provide a total of $500,000 to support investigative research and critical analysis into the political economy of large-scale AI systems and aims to sharpen our collective understanding of market concentration in the AI ecosystem. WHO IS IT FOR? 📌 The Programme will award fellowships to individual investigators/researchers or interdisciplinary teams of up to 3 investigators/researchers with complementary skills. 📌 We seek to award fellowships to applicants with a broad diversity of skills, expertise and backgrounds. 📌 We particularly encourage applications from people with journalistic experience, with strong investigative skills including OSINT, as well as fluency in market and technical research. Read more and apply on the European AI & Society Fund website 🔗 https://lnkd.in/ehttB4ss The fellowships will be administered by the Institute of International Education and are supported by the Open Society Foundations. #artificialintelligence #grant #competition #AI #fellowships #fellowship #philanthropy #AIpolicy #marketpower #society #research #foundation #fundingopportunity #opportunity

The AI & Philanthropy Summit sparked so many thoughtful reflections, solidarity and future collaborations! ✨ In the middle of June, together with Mozilla Foundation and the Global Philanthropy Project, Inc. we gathered 50 funders at the AI & #Philanthropy Summit during Mozilla Festival in Amsterdam to collectively navigate #AI impacts on society. We were overwhelmed with the response and openness. We heard about projects that use AI to tackle #climate change and what AI’s impacts on the year of #elections across the globe might be. We discussed tactics for funding AI and how philanthropic collaboratives can come together around these issues. And we heard about the opportunities for philanthropy around the new regulations emerging in Europe. Here are our key highlights from the day: 💗 This work is about people, and people and communities that philanthropy already support are impacted. 💻 The technology itself is not the problem, but the way it services politics can be. We need to always remember that AI is political, and used in a context. 💥 Civil society is not sufficiently funded to do forward looking work that creates alternative narratives for change or allows to advocate on the long run for visions they’ve created. And it’s not something that can be done as a side-hustle. 👋🏽 It’s not only about what type of work we resource – how we fund is just as important. We need to create spaces for collaboration and liberation. 🤝 If we want public values to be engrained in technology, philanthropy needs to work together. Thank you to all our partners who attended and organised the event, especially the team at Mozilla! We definitely left with more energy, connections and conviction that so many more people are invested to make sure that AI serves people, society and the planet. 🌏 Learn more about the Summit on our blog: 🔗 https://lnkd.in/eBgwNS2R #philanthropy #AI #socialjustice #MozFest #ArtificialIntelligence #funding

✨ Funding opportunity: Global Fellowship on AI & Market Power ✨ DEADLINE: 8 July 2024. 💹 The generative AI gold-rush is accelerating day by day, with big tech corporations investing billions in new startups and their own AI products. They are not only in the driving seat of shaping this technology, they are also poised to occupy an even more powerful role in the digital infrastructure of the future. But at what cost? 💡 Concentrated markets (including in technology) can negatively impact consumer choice, economic opportunity, innovation and democracy. There is an urgent need for public interest interventions, therefore we've launched a Global Fellowship Programme. 👉🏽 APPLY now for the Global Fellowship on AI & Market Power to investigate the political economy of large-scale AI systems and sharpen our collective understanding of market concentration in the AI ecosystem, particularly:  🔎 The nature of the partnerships between firms developing large-scale AI and infrastructure actors.   🔎The business models of large-scale AI systems providers.   🔎The impacts of concentration and abuse of market power by incumbent firms on third-party application developers and business deployers.   🔎The avenues for challenging market power. 📆 Applications will close in 2 weeks time, on 8 July 2024. Learn more and apply here: https://lnkd.in/ehttB4ss 📷 The headline in the screenshot comes from a recent EY press release: https://lnkd.in/e8zJz3bC #fellowship #funding #AI #MarketPower #Monopoly #Investigation #Investigativejournalism #research #philanthropy #ArtificialIntelligence #grant Open Society Foundations

The #ProtectNotSurveil emerged out of necessity. Necessity to meet human mobility with care, and advocate for the ability of people to move, seek safety and opportunity without risking harm, surveillance or discrimination. It's a collective space where activists, NGOs and academics can coordinate, share knowledge, break silos and draw out political alignments. We spoke with the coalition, diving into the deep interconnections between #technology and #migration, as well as learning the future plans of the coalition. Caterina Rodelli told us that "The name #ProtectNotSurveil came from the need to structurally shift the priorities of EU policy-making, and to reclaim the narrative around the meaning of protection, and safety for all. #ProtectNotSurveil is a permanent call to the #EU institutions: a call for a world where human mobility is met with care, not surveillance." Read the full interview with Sarah Chander, Caterina Rodelli, Alyna Smith and Chloé Berthélémy, who are steering the core group of #ProtectNotSurveil, on our website and join the supporters of #ProtectNotSurveil: 🔗 https://lnkd.in/eMgYcc8S  #ProtectNotSurveil are Access Now, Equinox: Racial Justice Initiative, European Digital Rights, Platform for Undocumented Migrants (PICUM), Refugee Law Lab, AlgorithmWatch, Amnesty International, Border Violence Monitoring Network, EuroMed Rights, ECNL Stichting, European Network Against Racism Aisbl (ENAR), Homo Digitalis, Privacy International, Statewatch, Derya Ozkul, Jan Tobias Muehlberg, and Niovi Vavoula. 

Join our final "Ask Us Anything" session to get all your questions answered about the Global Fellowship Programme on AI & Market Power! 📆 Wednesday, 19 June 5pm CET. 👉🏽 Register now: https://lnkd.in/eXYbgxd7 This session will offer prospective applicants an opportunity to ask clarifying questions about the motivation for launching this programme, its priorities and the application process. ❗ Important: This is not a pitching session, and we will not be providing feedback on individual proposal ideas during the session. Please respect this guideline. ✨ Check out the call for proposals on our website: https://lnkd.in/ehttB4ss 📆 Applications close on 8 July. #funding #fellowship #ArtificialIntelligence #AI #research #investigation #digitalpolicy #marketresearch #power #grant #philanthropy #call #callforproposals #investigativejournalism #awards