These groups have played a key role in researching the effects of algorithms on civic life, advocating for government agencies to adopt policies and regulations to make artificial intelligence more transparent and accountable, and filing lawsuits or freedom of information requests aimed at shedding light on the algorithms that drive decision making by public agencies:
The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), through its Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights Project, “advocates for the adoption of transparent, equitable, and commonsense development of AI policy and regulations.”
Algorithm Watch, a nonprofit research and advocacy group based in Germany, conducts research “to evaluate and shed light on algorithmic decision making processes that have a social relevance, meaning they are used either to predict or prescribe human action or to make decisions automatically.”
The Algorithmic Justice League “combines art and research to illuminate the social implications and harms of artificial intelligence.” Among the core principles it promotes is “meaningful transparency” in the process of creating and deploying artificial intelligence.
Founded in 2016, Partnership for AI is a nonprofit coalition whose stated mission is to “shape best practices, research, and public dialogue about AI’s benefits for people and society.” The coalition’s partners include both nonprofit organizations and large technology companies.
The Algorithmic Transparency Initiative (ATI) “seeks to improve the transparency of algorithms that shape society by providing tools and data that can be leveraged by all to hold the powerful accountable.” ATI is a project of the National Conference on Citizenship, a Congressionally-chartered organization.
The Public Voice is a coalition formed in 1996 “to promote public participation in decisions concerning the future of the Internet.” The Public Voice developed “Universal Guidelines for Artificial Intelligence,” a document that was endorsed by more than 60 organizations and 250 experts in 2018 and advocates for a right to transparency under which “all individuals have the right to know the basis of an AI decision that concerns them.”
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1990 whose work involves “defending civil liberties in the digital world.”
Data & Society, an independent nonprofit research organization formed in 2014, conducts research in support of its mission to “challenge the power and purpose of technology in society.”
