AI models, without ecological awareness, can perpetuate and amplify environmentally damaging narratives, exacerbating ecological crises.
The integration—or lack thereof—of ecological awareness in AI systems manifests significantly in how AI influences public and private sector decisions. For instance, without ecological consideration, AI-driven recommendations in urban planning and resource management could prioritize economic gains over sustainability, leading to increased carbon footprints and depletion of natural resources. The H4rmony Project addresses this by embedding ecolinguistic principles into AI to ensure its outputs promote sustainability.
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A 2023 report from Internet Watch Foundation AI is increasingly being used to generate child sexual abuse material (CSAM).
Researchers examined 20,254 AI-generated images that were posted to one dark web CSAM forum over the course of one month and a preliminary review found that 11,108 of them were likely criminal. Ultimately, 2,978 were deemed criminal per UK law. They also concluded that the AI-generated images are increasingly becoming visually indistinguishable from CSAM that involve real people, that much of it focuses on celebrity children and people who have previously been abused, and that there is potential for massive growth in this criminal area.
Community Health and Collective Security Human Rights Issue 2017AI systems reflect the culture's bias against the disabled.
The Allegheny County Department of Human Services in the state of Pennsylvania in the United States uses an AI system that residents allege incorrectly flags disabled parents as being neglectful, removing their children from their homes with no actual evidence of neglect. It is currently under investigation by the United States Department of Justice.
Community Health and Collective Security Disability Justice Human Rights Issue 2022Multilingual inconsistencies in AI systems impact linguistic hegemony.
AI can create language hegemony, where some languages are granted superior status and others are deemed inferior. Studies show that "language modeling bias can result in systems that, while being precise regarding languages and cultures of dominant powers, are limited in the expression of socio-culturally relevant notions of other communities." In extreme cases, this can even violate people's right to practice and preserve their native non-English languages.
Human Rights Racial Justice Issue 2023The European Commission has budgeted €47m to build an “automated border surveillance system” at Greece’s borders with North Macedonia and Albania.
It's modeled on a system already in use at the land border with Turkey. The reported aim of the new automated border surveillance system is to stop people from leaving Greece. "Many people holding Syrian, Afghan, Somalian, Bangladeshi or Pakistani passports seeking asylum in the European Union move out of Greece when they have the feeling that their administrative situation will not improve there," heading through northern Greece on route to North Macedonia and Albania, per AlgorithmWatch. Studies on similar surveillance systems shows that when migrants know they will be surveilled, they opt for longer, more dangerous routes to prevent being detected. “People are dying outside the visual range of the towers,” said one expert.
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