We stand at the dawn of a new era. The technological revolution is transforming our lives at a rapid speed, dramatically altering how we work, learn, and even live together. Digital technologies - including algorithmic systems and ‘Artificial Intelligence’ (AI) - are undergoing exponential growth and finding new applications in an ever-increasing number of sectors. We see their prominence in several sectors, such as security, the environment, research and education, health, culture, trade, and more.

The Rethinking Power and Ethics Space, part of the Mozilla Festival 2022, invites contributions that expand, shift, and rethink how we engage with the intersection of power, and harms, values, rights and democracy in tech. Read on for more information about how we are envisaging the space or submit a session proposal now!

AI, algorithms, big data, and tech often evoke technological utopias, but the lived experiences of people affected by these technologies indicate that they cause harm, inequity, and injustice at scale - through their use as technologies of incarceration and surveillance, through their environmental impacts, or through the hidden and unaccountable ways in which they discriminate and disempower people. Algorithms open up exciting new prospects, but the political and social upheaval they bring in their wake warrants careful consideration.

We are at the forefront of a truly exciting movement. Attitudes are shifting as big data and AI thrive, opening the door for tangible change. However, it is ever more urgent and difficult to pave the way in addressing the harms, human rights, social justice, labor, and democracy impacts of tech.

Our space understands ethics inclusively: welcoming all approaches to harms, values, rights, justice, law, public good, accountability, democracy, etc. We also welcome approaches critical of relying on ethics in tech.}

Come challenge and reimagine perspectives on questions like: How do we protect communities from harms that are made invisible by historical marginalization, and ongoing exclusion from AI design and governance? How do we move beyond corporate-sponsored invocations of “tech, data, or AI ethics” that fail to be a check on power? Is there a place for ethics in tech governance?

We not only welcome the perspectives of activists, civil society, researchers, and technologists who specialize in power and ethics in tech. We also hope to feature contributions that expand how such questions are typically explored: be it through storytelling, participatory design, games, art, etc.

We can’t wait to be surprised by your contributions! Feel free to reach out if you have questions about the CFP process! The Rethinking Power and Ethics Space is one of the many spaces at Mozfest 2022, where we convene as a society of activists in our strife to build a healthier internet. Visit mozillafestival.org to know more and join our space with your proposal.