Project summary

This project is a one year AI and Human Rights Fellowship where I would primarily undertake research in to how AI will impact our current set of human rights protections as well as encourage others in the human rights sphere to consider dedicating some time/resources to researching AI risks in their own niche i.e. right to protest or due process.

What are this project's goals? How will you achieve them?

The goal of the project is two-fold:

1) To fund and undertake a pre-doc fellowship in AI and Human Rights, producing research articles and policy papers.

2) To showcase the fellowship as a model for further fellowships to be undertaken in the field.

3) Finally, from a personal perspective I would like to see more human rights lawyers/activists be concerned about the effect AI may have on fundamental freedoms we take for granted.

I hope to achieve these aims by first incubating this fellowship at a highly ranked university - this should give the fellowship credibility by association and also allow me to access mentorship of leading academics easier. I also intend to work with the host university and reach out to more donors to permanently endow the fellowship. Finally, I want to publish not only my research but also the experience of the fellowship.

How will this funding be used?

The main cost is the salary need to undertake this fellowship. Whilst many AI research roles have relatively high salaries - for example, a research fellowship role at GovAI (see here - Research Fellow | GovAI Blog) has a salary of £80,000 - £100,000 - I don't think this is necessary here.

Given I have no dependents and am (sometimes) frugal, I have budgeted much lower. I have also budgeted a small expenses budget to facilitate some equipment, travel and conference costs in line with GovAI's similar scheme without the unnecessary frills.

1) Salary - £40,000

2) Expenses - £5,000

Without this funding, the fellowship won't happen as I am unfortunately unable to take an unpaid sabbatical from my existing job to pursue this. The university I am currently in discussions for hosting this fellowship also refuses to take on an unpaid research fellow even if I could volunteer my time.

The minimum funding is set at 3 months funding as I believe that with that amount, I can at the very least get started and worry about securing the remaining funding later.

Who is on your team? What's your track record on similar projects?

It is just me undertaking the research however I expect to be in constant conversation with academics, mentors and activists in the field.

My main experience in the human rights world is that I have worked for the last 3 years putting together a strategic litigation project to more effectively and efficiently undertake LGBTQ+ rights cases in Europe. This project has been supported by several multinational law firms, domestic charities and barristers.

I have enjoyed putting together the organisation from scratch and writing legal opinions/research papers however have become increasingly worried by AI and the use of AI by both states and private firms/individuals in infringing legal rights.

What are the most likely causes and outcomes if this project fails?

Whilst I can't predict what may or may not happen over the next year, I can mitigate some of the likely causes of failure in the project i.e. burnout, illness, lack of motivation etc. For example, by having a mentor act in a sort of supervisory role, I can be made more likely to publish research articles.

Failing to fully fund this project will mean we continue to leave a currently significant gap in AI governance research and prevent me form encouraging others to pursue similar research projects in the field.

Much of AI governance is based on future risk and regulating against those risks, an area that is important, however it generally ignores the slow creep of AI use in various areas of society that we rely on for our basic freedoms. The increased use of AI in security/surveillance, the idea that AI should be used to lower the judiciary and other AI related policy suggestions will have a fundamental impact on our basic freedoms and we should at the very least be aware of how our human rights standards could be strengthened or weakened.

By researching AI's impact on human rights and encouraging other human rights activists to accept and engage with AI, we can continue to develop an outlook on how AI can benefit humanity and augment our freedoms rather than erode them.

How much money have you raised in the last 12 months, and from where?

None but am in conversation with two potential donors. If they offer any funds, I will reduce the minimum and total funding pot here and/or return Manifund funds (am not sure on the process).

I would love to answer any questions people have so do leave comments and/or email me at Mo@obiterbymo.com.