A Collaborative Proposal for a United States AI Bill of Rights
A public statement submitted to the Office of Science and Technology Policy
In early October 2021, the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy filed a federal document to seek public comments about a proposed AI “bill of rights” that would develop new measures to safeguard against harms caused by the use of facial recognition and other biometric AI technologies to identify people or assess their character. The Alliance for Media Arts + Culture and Immerse decided to join together to submit a public statement on behalf of and with their communities. We first created an open call for comments and then we drafted a public statement based on these comments and held a second open call for signatures and projects. Below is our public statement that we submitted to the Office of Science and with signatures. We have also published a companion list of reports and projects created by members of our communities that use or address AI technologies.
We are artists, scientists, journalists, media-makers and human rights activists who actively engage with Artificial Intelligence including biometric technologies. We explore their creative potential and we critique these technologies. We engage with US and global public audiences through our work. We serve as an intermediary between the scientists and technologists and the public, helping members of the public better understand the implications of AI technologies and how they relate to broader efforts to capture and interpret reality.
In our work, we address security considerations, known vulnerabilities, issues of data privacy, bias, and transparency. We argue for consent and the ability to opt-out of AI-enabled manipulations and/or influences. We create public awareness about the harms these unregulated AI systems bring to specific groups including Black and Brown communities, people with disabilities, LGBTQ+, Indigenous communities, youth, and to the general public. We believe in the necessity of human responsibility.
We strongly urge and call for an expansive array of voices to be included as an integral part of the development and co-authorship of an AI Bill of Rights. We further urge that people from these communities have a leadership role in the agencies and structures created to make decisions and protect the public with regard to AI development. This means not only technologists, corporations, lawyers, and politicians, but also human rights activists, artists, journalists, bearers of culture and intergenerational communities from around the globe.
With this statement, organized by The Alliance for Media Arts + Culture, MIT Open Documentary Lab and Co-Creation Studio, and Immerse, we, the undersigned, also include an incomplete but important list of artistic, scientific and journalistic projects and studies from our communities that directly address these issues (in the Appendix attached). We urge the process of developing an AI Bill of Rights be actively animated and informed by this work, and our community.
SIGNED,
- Wendy Levy, The Alliance for Media Arts + Culture
- Sarah Wolozin, MIT Open Documentary Lab, Immerse
- Katerina Cizek, Co-Creation Studio at MIT Open Documentary Lab, Immerse and Abby Sun, Immerse Editor
- Agatha S. Park, Media Artist
- Ambar Reyes, MIT ODL Researcher
- Amelia Winger-Bearskin, Banks Preeminence Chair and Assistant Professor of AI and the Arts at the University of Florida, Digital Worlds Institute
- Andrea Kim, Fulbright Research Fellow
- Andrew Demirjian, Associate Professor/ Hunter College
- Andy Beach, CTO, Media & Entertainment, Microsoft
- Ankur Vora
- Anna Van der Wee, Director, producer Wild Heart Productions
- Anya Rous, VP of Production, Multitude Films
- Artemis Willis, Research Fellow
- Asma Nobari Khoshmehr
- Assia Boundaoui, Independent Investigative Journalist and Artist
- B. Ruby Rich, Film Quarterly
- Barry Threw, Executive Director — Gray Area Foundation for the Arts
- Beckie Stocchetti, Executive Director, Hawai’i International Film Festival
- Brenda Webb, Executive Director
- Brittany Delany, Artist
- C Dalrymple, PBS Utah
- Carol Dysinger, Prof. at NYU Grad Film
- Caroline A. Jones, Professor, art historian, critic, curator
- Christopher Buttimer, Post-doctoral Associate, MIT
- Cindy Bishop, Director of technology, creative
- Cindy Poremba
- Claire Jervert, Artist
- Claudia Romano, Producer, MIT Open Documentary Lab
- Cristina Kotz Cornejo, Media Maker
- Daniel Toner, WGBH
- Debra Swack, Fulbright and Education Specialist SUNY Research Foundation/New Media Artist
- Dejan Grba, Artist, researcher, and scholar
- Deniz Tortum, Filmmaker
- Derek Curry & Jennifer Gradecki, Assistant Professors, Northeastern University
- Diboer Lei
- Dr. Ellen Pearlman, Research Fellow MIT Open Doc Lab, Director ThoughtWorks Arts
- Dr. Heidi Boisvert, CEO & Founder, futurePerfect lab & Assistant Professor of AI & the Arts
- Ella Fasciano, Tufts University Documentary Film Student
- Emma Raynes, Director of Programs, Magnum Foundation
- Eric Grunwald, Interim Director, English Language Studies, MIT
- Faisal Anwar, Hybrid Artist, Curator, Karachi Biennial 22. Founder Innovation lab, culturelab.art
- Gabriel Vieira-Posada, MIT Fellow
- Gisele Gordon, Media Artist
- Gordon Quinn, Founder and Artistic Director
- Grayson Earle, Lecturer, New School
- Halsey Burgund, independent artist; Fellow at MIT Open Documentary Lab
- Henry Ajder, deepfake and synthetic media expert
- Howard Phillips, Professor
- Ilana Schoenfeld, Learning Designer — MIT The Education Arcade (TEA)
- Ileana Doble Hernandez, Ileana Doble H Studio
- Jack Walsh, Filmmaker
- Jared Willard, Machine Learning Researcher
- Jasmine Heyward, University of Westminster
- Jason Livingston, Media artist
- Jeff Soyk, MIT Open Doc Lab Fellow Alum
- Jessica Clark, Executive Director, Dot Connector Studio
- Joanna Martine Wright, Fellow MIT Open Documentary Lab, Honorary Senior Research Fellow, Bangor University, UK
- José Magalhães, Quadratura da Net
- Josefina Buschmann
- Joseph Steele, PhD Candidate (CU Boulder) and Affiliate (Vrije Universiteit Ams. NL)
- Julia scher, professor emeritus KHM
- Julie Hermelin, Managing Partner; Gutsy Media
- June Cross, Filmmaker
- Karo Durojaiye, Artist/Designer
- Karim Ben Khelifa, Nonfiction storyteller
- Kelly Wagman, PhD student, University of Chicago
- Kieran, Sundance Institute
- L. Mattock Scariot, Director
- Lara Baladi, MIT faculty
- Laurids sonne, Graduate student,University of Colorado, Boulder
- Lee Boot, Director, Imaging Research Center, UMBC
- Liam Corcoran, Entrepreneur
- Logan Coale, Software Engineer
- Lynette Wallworth, VR Wallworth
- M. Kamal Sinclair, Co-Leader, Guild of Future Architects
- marc böhlen, Professor, University at Buffalo
- Mark Shepard, Associate Professor of Architecture and Media Study / University at Buffalo
- Mashinka Firunts Hakopian
- Mathew Rappaport, Associate Professor, Columbia College Chicago
- Mathieu Pradat, Author and Director, MIT Open Documentary Lab Fellow
- Maya Hawke, Editor
- Melinda Weekes-Laidlow, CEO
- Michaela Holland, XR Consultant
- Michaela Pnacek, York University, Toronto
- Michèle Stephenson, Director / Producer / Rada Studio
- Monda Webb, Founder, Little Known Stories Production Company
- Natalie Bullock Brown, Documentary Accountability Working Group
- Ngardy Conteh George, Filmmaker
- Nim Shapira, Artist
- Oghenekaro, Artist
- Paco de Onís, Executive Director, Skylight
- Patricia Finneran, Story Matters Media
- Patricia Roberts (Antelles), Designer
- Penelope Jagessar Chaffer, Research Fellow
- Peter Grosz, Roustabout Media
- Peter Keough, Writer/Boston Globe
- Rashin Fahandej, Assistant Professor of Emerging and Interactive Media
- Rebecca Evanhoe, Conversation Designer, Author, Visiting Assistant Professor
- Rekha Malhotra
- Riley Wong, Machine Learning Engineer
- Rina Kim
- Roger Leisner, Founder/Owner of Radio Free Maine
- Rowena Chodkowski, Concordia University
- Ryat Yezbick, Guild of Future Architects
- Samantha King
- Samuel Kauffmann, Professor Emeritus, Boston University, College of Communication
- Sandra Rodriguez, Creative Director
- Sarah MacDonald
- Sean Flynn, Program Director & Co-Founder, Points North Institute
- Shamsher Virk , Executive Director, ZERO1: The Art & Technology Network
- Shel Evergreen, Science Writer
- shirin anlen, Creative Technologist and Artist/ Research Fellow at MIT Open Documentary Lab
- Siobhan O’Flynn, Assistant Professor, Director, Canadian Studies Program
- Sito Fossy Biosa, Bandung Institute of Technology & VISUAREKAN
- Sky Sitney, Co-Director, Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival
- Sohin Hwang, Artist
- Stephanie Lepp, Producer
- Susan Margolin, St Marks Productions
- Ting Zhang, Project Lead, Local News Lab, Brown Institute
- Thomasin B Durgin, Artist
- Toma Peiu, Instructor, PhD Candidate — Emergent Technologies and Media Arts Practices, U of Colorado Boulder
- Tosca Terán, Interdisciplinary artist
- Tracy Heather Strain, The Film Posse
- Virginia Keller, Roustabout Media
- William Uricchio, Professor, MIT
- Yucef Merhi, Affiliate Researcher, Fellow / MIT Open Documentary Lab
- Ziv Schneider, Artist and Creative Technologist
For more news, discourse, and resources on immersive and emerging forms of nonfiction media, sign up for our monthly newsletter.
Immerse is an initiative of the MIT Open DocLab and Dot Connector Studio, and receives funding from Just Films | Ford Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts. The Gotham Film & Media Institute is our fiscal sponsor. Learn more here. We are committed to exploring and showcasing emerging nonfiction projects that push the boundaries of media and tackle issues of social justice — and rely on friends like you to sustain ourselves and grow. Join us by making a gift today.
