About the AI Intersections Database
What is this?
This database maps intersections between the key social justice and human rights areas of our time and documented AI impacts and their manifestations in society. It also catalogs civil society organizations, social movement actors, researchers, and other entities that are either actively doing work at these intersections, or are well suited for engagement on these issues via partnerships. Think of it as infrastructure for movement, designed to facilitate meaningful collaborations that advance our mutual aims with integrity. This work is part of our 2021 “Movement Building Landscape Analysis,” which explored Mozilla Foundation’s potential movement partnerships at the intersection of consumer AI and social justice.
Above all, this database is an offering. We hope you will use it to learn more about how AI impacts people around the world, connect with other actors who are working to address those issues, find organizations to support and fund, and share your own work with other users in the community.
(This website is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license, excluding portions of the content attributed to third parties.)
What’s the project scope?
We focused on the AI consumer space (as defined in the Mozilla Foundation’s “Accelerating Progress Toward Trustworthy AI” white paper) and traditional social justice areas, as well as human rights and an area we call community health and collective security (see definitions below). The geographical focus of the database at launch is limited to countries and regions where Mozilla has an existing community, relationship, and investments, but we are working to expand it with data from around the world, with particular interest in areas and communities that are typically underrepresented in conversations about AI. Want to suggest additions or corrections? Click the button below. All suggestions will be vetted by our team; note that new actors need to opt-in to appear on the site.
What’s the methodology?
Desk research informed an understanding of the key issues at the intersection of AI’s impact on society and social justice. To offer insight and guidance on questions of global contexts and specificity, we interviewed fellows, existing and potential partners, and other experts, and solicited input from peer reviewers. The full list of contributors can be found in the “Movement Building Landscape Analysis.”
What does it all mean?
The following definitions shaped the creation and organization of this database. Click here to expand all definitions.
Key Terms
Entries can detail an Issue or showcase an Actor
A description of how an impact of AI manifests in society
A person or entity that is actively engaging with issues at the intersection of AI harms and social justice, or a person or entity active in the social justice arena that could be engaged on the issues; these include civil society organizations, social movement actors, academics and other researchers, government bodies, industry representatives, digital rights advocates, and funders
Categories of Actors found in the database; these include civil society, digital rights organizations, funders, government bodies, industry, movement actors, and researchers
A way to classify and understand social justice issues in relation to an aspect of society where inequity occurs as a result of unjust systems, prejudices, and policies; these include community health and collective security, disability justice, economic justice, environmental justice, gender justice, human rights, and racial justice
A short description of the harm caused by AI, or work in a given Justice Area
The year an Issue was surfaced
The countries or regions where an Issue is relevant or where an Actor serves
Movement Vocabulary
An area between the state, the market, and the private sphere; this refers to all institutions, organizations, or groups (formal or informal) that contribute to civic life, are not market institutions, and are not part of, or funded by, the state
Issues related to drivers of community health, including individual freedoms and collective security, well-being, and safety; when AI enters the picture, we can see opaque systems that prevent accountability, bias and discrimination, manipulation, and far-right extremism and radicalization (learn more)
A cross-disability framework that values access, self-determination, and an expectation of difference in disability, identity, and culture; to fully be part of society is to be our whole selves (all of our identities together); it includes space for self-care, reflection, and hard discussions, as defined by the Disability Activist Collective; at this intersection, we find inaccessible tech, bias and discrimination, and economic harm
A justice concept that touches the individual person as well as the social order and encompasses the moral principles that guide us in designing our economic institutions, as defined by The Center for Social and Economic Justice (US); the ultimate purpose of economic justice is to free each person to engage creatively in the unlimited work beyond economics, to focus on the pursuits of the mind and the spirit; the harm at this intersection manifests as discrimination and bias, economic harm, widening geographic inequality, exploitation of workers, monopoly and centralization, violation of consumer rights, and manipulation (learn more)
This is a movement response to environmental racism, which is the disproportionate impact of environmental hazards on people of color, as outlined by the The First People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit; it concerns the distribution of environmental goods between nation-states and how such goods continue to be distributed at national and local levels under conditions of climatic change, as well as the importance of recognition and participation (Schlosberg 2004); in the Global South, it is also concerned with uneven development processes (Ferguson 1994); AI harms to environmental justice look like the destruction of the environment and acceleration of climate change, energy consumption, and a lack of data (learn more)
The systemic redistribution of power, opportunities, and access for people of all genders through the dismantling of harmful structures including patriarchy, homophobia, and transphobia, as defined by The Global Fund for Women (Global); this space is no stranger to bias and discrimination (including against the LGBTIQA+ community, economic harm and inequality, sexualization, violation of privacy, gender-based violence, and a lack of data (learn more)
Rights inherent to all human beings, regardless of race, gender, sexuality, nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, or any other status; they include the right to life and liberty, freedom from slavery and torture, freedom of opinion and expression, and the right to work and education, as defined by the United Nations; violations manifest as bias and discrimination, the violation of privacy, and inaccessible tech (learn more)
A place where things converge
The theoretical framework — first described by the Combahee River Collective in the United States in 1978 and named by legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989 — that shows how the interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender, create overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage; intersectionality is not primarily about identity, “it is about how structures make certain identities the consequence of, and the vehicle for, vulnerability.” (Crenshaw 2016)
The process by which we build collective power — via relationships, infrastructure, and strategic pathways — to harness and bolster the work of social movements and leverage opportunities to make systemic change over time; Mozilla’s AI Theory of Change defines movement building as “growing the number of people and organizations committed to creating a healthier digital world,” and specifically in respect to trustworthy AI “to encourage a growing number of civil society actors to promote trustworthy AI as a key part of their work”
Deep collaboration between at least two stakeholders in which there is a shared purpose, goal, or objective in the short, medium, or long term
A vision and transformation of society to eliminate racial and ethnic hierarchies and advance collective liberation, where Indigenous people around the world and people from the African, Asian, and Latine diasporas, in particular, have the dignity, resources, power, and self-determination to fully thrive, as defined by Race Forward (US); AI’s detriment to racial justice includes bias and discrimination, surveillance, economic harms, violence, and hate speech — and a lack of representative data underlying it all (learn more)
A self-identified mobilized public that is driven to collective action aimed at social change
Who worked on this?
The AI Intersections Database is crafted by a project team led by Kenrya Rankin with project team members Simon Acosta Torres, Genevieve Baldassano, Tyler Denton, Abi Fidler, Ali Latorre, Esteban Lopez, Bhavya Madan, Eeva Moore, Sabrina Ng, Neha Ravella, and Mary Helen Ybarra Johnson, and developer Social Driver. Illustrations were created by D’Ara Nazaryan. The project is guided by Director of the Insights team, Kasia Odrozek, and sponsored by Senior Vice President, Global Programs, J. Bob Alotta.
The research that informed the AI Intersections Database was commissioned and guided by the Mozilla Foundation’s Insights team, in collaboration with the Fellowships and Awards team. It was executed by a team of freelance researchers led by Jacqui Howard. Matt Stempeck contributed writing and led the mapping with support from Ani Hao and Chenai Chair. Editing was done by Kenrya Rankin, Rosemary Maguire, and Eeva Moore. Kasia Odrozek provided project guidance on Mozilla’s side, with support from Amy Schapiro Raikar. Senior Vice President, Global Programs, J. Bob Alotta sponsored the research.
We take privacy seriously
Mozilla respects your autonomy and data privacy. Read Mozilla’s Privacy Notice and opt-out of appearing in the database at any time by clicking here.
