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'Existential Risks': AI Anxiety Fueling Stream of Shareholder Proposals

'Existential Risks': AI Anxiety Fueling Stream of Shareholder Proposals

Arjuna Capital, which specializes in sustainable investing and manages $319 million, partnered with the advocacy group Open MIC to submit proposals calling on Alphabet and Meta to produce in-depth reports on the dangers of generative AI’s deployment in misinformation campaigns and how the companies plan to address them.

“Alphabet and Meta need to assure billions of users and their shareholders that their management and boards are up to the task of responsibly managing [AI] technology,” Open MIC Executive Director Michael Connor said.

Stock Buybacks Aren't Inherently Evil, They're Just Devilishly Abused

Stock Buybacks Aren't Inherently Evil, They're Just Devilishly Abused

“You've got one person who is the CEO and the chairman and the largest stockholder in the company, and he frankly is responsible for a number of bad business decisions,” Connor says. “The share price took an almighty hit, and the solution was something close to a gimmick to try and bring it back.”

Shareholders and regulators target big tech over social concerns

Shareholders and regulators target big tech over social concerns

“We need to be realistic about the outcomes, especially at companies like Alphabet and Meta which have ‘dual class’ shares that give the company founders and other insiders powerful voting rights that make shareholder initiatives extremely challenging,” said Michael Connor, Director at Open MIC, a nonprofit which campaigns for corporate accountability in media and tech.

Metaverse Proposal Heightens Investors’ Social Media Concerns

Metaverse Proposal Heightens Investors’ Social Media Concerns

Despite protests from Meta, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ruled that the vote should go ahead, which Michael Connor, Executive Director of Open MIC, noted is “a win for all those who are deeply troubled by Meta’s appalling track record of dodging accountability and failing to address human and civil rights abuses, as well as privacy concerns affecting billions of people globally”.

Meta’s Russia Problem Is Up to Nick Clegg, Not Mark Zuckerberg, to Solve

Meta’s Russia Problem Is Up to Nick Clegg, Not Mark Zuckerberg, to Solve

“He’s been there over three years, and really nothing has changed,” says Michael Connor, executive director of Open MIC, an advocacy group that works with investors to push for social changes at tech companies. “It’s pretty clear that Mark Zuckerberg has burned his bridges with some critical constituencies, including legislators in the U.S. and Europe, so they had to put a new person forward.”

Hearing the N-Word in the Metaverse Is Just the Beginning

Hearing the N-Word in the Metaverse Is Just the Beginning

Earlier this week, Arjuna Capital filed a lengthy rebuttal to Meta that cited a laundry list of the social media giant’s most famous scandals, from the Cambridge Analytica privacy lapse to its role in facilitating the deadly insurrection at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Open Mic Executive Director Michael Connor, whose group is working with Arjuna Capital, told me it’s because of that track record that an independent assessment of the technology underlying the metaverse is necessary.

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