For Immediate Release: December 16, 2024
Media Contact: media@colorofchange.org
Color Of Change Launches New Black Tech Agenda To Make Technology Work for Black Communities
The comprehensive platform calls for stronger regulation to stop tech companies from harming Black communities and ensure artificial intelligence benefits everyone
NATIONAL – Color Of Change (COC), the nation’s largest online racial justice organization, has released its updated Black Tech Agenda, a detailed plan to ensure technology and artificial intelligence (AI) systems designed by Big Tech help rather than harm Black communities. This agenda builds on COC’s groundbreaking 2022 version by tackling new challenges: protecting Black workers from unfair AI systems, ensuring Black artists get paid fairly, and stopping Big Tech from building polluting infrastructure in Black neighborhoods.
The Agenda demands clear rules for how AI should–and shouldn’t–be used, with a call for real consequences in federal and state regulation. Color Of Change believes technology should be a tool for justice, not a weapon of oppression against the most vulnerable. This means that government at every level must mobilize to promote equal access to, representation in, and agency over technology for all communities.
“Technology now shapes every part of our lives, from getting jobs and healthcare to accessing education and baking. But instead of lifting up Black communities, these systems too often discriminate against us,” said Portia Allen-Kyle, Interim Executive Director of Color Of Change. “That’s why we’re introducing a stronger Black Tech Agenda that does two vital things: protects our civil rights today and builds real economic power for our communities tomorrow. Our agenda provides clear solutions to ensure technology actually serves everyone, not just Big Tech.”
Six Pillars of Black Tech Equity
The Black Tech Agenda presents a visionary future for various aspects of technology, featuring six key pillars for Black tech equity. Each pillar includes COC’s vision for implementation, methods for building community awareness and power, specific policy imperatives, necessary corporate changes, community solutions, and strategies for organizers to combat opposition.
- Black Communities Need Clean Digital Access: Black communities face two connected problems: they are less likely to have reliable internet access, and Big Tech has continued polluting and consuming more energy. Black communities need affordable internet access that doesn’t harm their environment or health.
- Black People Need Individual Control Over Their Digital Lives: Companies collect and use Black people’s personal information without permission, often in ways that create harm. COC demands strong privacy laws that let people decide how their data is used, especially by AI systems.
- Black Neighborhoods Need Community Control: Tech companies intentionally exclude Black residents from decisions that affect their neighborhoods. COC demands laws requiring public input from Black communities before building new infrastructure or launching new systems that impact daily lives.
- Technology Must Work Fairly For Black Economic Success: AI systems often unfairly deny Black people jobs, loans, and housing. These systems require regular testing to detect and stop discrimination.
- Black Workers Need Protection and Pathways in Tech: Big Tech treats Black workers unfairly by exploiting warehouse workers and excluding Black employees from leadership roles. Rules that protect workers are necessary to create real paths to job security and advancement.
- Black Creators Need Control Over Their Expression: AI companies are appropriating Black art, scholarship, and likenesses without permission or payment to train their models. COC urges for laws that protect the intellectual property of Black creatives and ensure artists get paid when AI copies their style or work.
Pursuing Real Change in AI
Directly addressing the impact of artificial intelligence is a key aspect of the Agenda present throughout all six pillars, especially in light of an election season rife with disinformation, deepfakes, and distrust. AI has the potential to serve Black communities, offering systems that help Black businesses work smarter, help students learn better, and make daily tasks easier. However, the current landscape of AI regulation and policy is disjointed and lacks comprehensive oversight, resulting in the exclusion of Black people from economic opportunities.
“AI is here to stay, and it will shape Black futures whether we like it or not. That’s why Color Of Change is fighting to make sure AI helps rather than hurts Black communities,” said Michael Huggins, Deputy Senior Director of Policy and Government Affairs at Color Of Change. “Big Tech may claim that AI is fair, but that’s not true. AI learns from and repeats the same biases that have historically discriminated against Black people. Without critical examination and intentional regulation, AI will keep pushing Black people out of opportunities and perpetuate inequity.”
A strong regulatory framework across state and federal government is needed to ensure AI systems incorporate fairness and adhere to ethical guidelines and existing laws regarding civil rights and discrimination. Additional necessary measures include mandatory disclosure of AI tools, greater inclusion of underrepresented communities in AI regulation, and stronger accountability in high-risk arenas like housing, hiring, policing, and elections.
Holding Big Tech Accountable
This is the latest in COC’s long history of holding Big Tech companies accountable. From persuading two AI companies to expand their election integrity policies to reduce misinformation, to co-leading a boycott of Facebook in response to anti-Black hatred on their platform, and advocating for net neutrality and affordable internet access for Black families, COC is committed to reducing harm caused by these corporate giants. The Black Tech Agenda provides a comprehensive policy framework for how technology can uplift rather than cause harm to the Black community.
Click here to review the full report.
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Color Of Change is the nation’s largest online racial justice organization. We help people respond effectively to injustice in the world around us. As a national online force driven by over 7 million members, we move decision-makers in corporations and governments to create a more human and less hostile world for Black people in America. Visit www.colorofchange.org.