WACC with Artigo 19 Brasil e América do Sul led an in-depth dialogue earlier this week on critical questions of AI accountability and collaboration between faith communities and civil society to ensure AI development integrates human rights.

The hybrid roundtable “Faith–Secular Approaches to AI Accountability,” held at the World Council of Churches (WCC) on 10 November, took place through the Digital Rights Exchange program, which is organized by Forus and ECNL and being held as part of the Civil Society Alliances for Digital Empowerment project, co-funded by the European Union.

“We also decided to hold this exchange in collaboration with the WCC because churches and ecumenical organizations have real moral and communications authority,” said WACC Deputy General Secretary Sara Speicher, who moderated the roundtable.

The power of collective efforts for AI accountability

Raquel da Cruz Lima, coordinator of the Law and Policy Program at WACC partner Artigo 19, reflected on how money, power, and scale driving the development and implementation of artificial intelligence may make many of us question whether we have the power to impact its direction at all. But she assured those gathered that they do have the power – especially when they speak and act collectively.

“When we talk about freedom of expression, we emphasize its social and collective dimensions,” she said. “It is our ability to hear voices, to create relationships, to engage in partnerships to produce knowledge together, and to participate in public life.”

The discussion noted how, when we combine secular and faith-based efforts, we can make a difference.

Technology at the service of life

Rev. Mauro Batista de Souza, president-elect of the Evangelical Church of the Lutheran Confession in Brazil, reflected that churches are offering an increasingly important perspective to discussions on AI, whether those discussions are taking place at a local church or an international forum.

“Technology must remain at the service of life, and not the other way around,” he said. “We must be sure AI does not deepen existing inequalities or create new forms of exclusion.”

Designing technology with human rights at the core

Those gathered weighed the question: How might artificial intelligence – and indeed all our digital platforms – look and act if it was designed with human rights at its core?

Da Cruz Lima urged faith communities to consider the theological but also the legal dimension. She stressed that a framework is needed to understand data as a public good, not something up for private ownership, that belongs to communities. “[E]veryone must benefit from what it’s possible to create using those data.”

This echoed de Souza’s point that the concentration of technological and economic power must be a focus. “Decisions affecting millions or billions of people should not be left to private, profit-driven technological interests, without transparency, public accountability, and appropriate democratic control,” he said.

Christina Takatsu Winnischofer, general secretary of the Episcopal Anglican Church of Brazil, noted the many questions being raised about AI, from the environmental impact of data centers to the trustworthiness of information and bias of AI programs. “Mostly we are concerned about the power of the people who are dominating AI,” who hold everything in their hands, she said.

After responding to questions, the speakers all agreed that the conversation must continue on grassroots, regional, and international levels. “Getting together and thinking together is the best way to go forward,” de Souza concluded.

Mauro Batista de Souza and Christina Takatsu Winnischofer listen as Raquel da Cruz Lima (l) speaks during the Digital Rights Exchange roundtable “Faith–Secular Approaches to AI Accountability.” Photo: Pauline Tête/WCC