By Asma Derja (Ethical AI Alliance): This talk argues that AI has become a human rights issue. The focus is not only on failures at deployment but on harms that emerge at every stage of the value chain. These include data extraction, design choices, organisational incentives, and the culture inside technology companies. Drawing on the speaker's shift from Big Tech to independent governance work, the talk shows how these harms accumulate and create uneven consequences across regions.
The session highlights interdisciplinary efforts, including those within the Ethical AI Alliance, that aim to map these harm patterns in a clear and practical way. It makes the case for developing and adopting AI harm maps as tools for transparency and accountability. It also argues for community-led and de-centered governance models that can complement academic research and help build more just AI systems.
Asma Derja is the founder of the Ethical AI Alliance, an interdisciplinary global community working on accountability in AI through Global South, justice, and human rights perspectives. Her work focuses on governance and AI harms, informed by more than a decade of experience in tech and cloud infrastructure.
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