Corporate Interests Research Articles

Timnit Gebru: seeking to promote diversity and ethics in AI

Learning outcomes This case is designed to enable students to understand the role of women in artificial intelligence (AI); understand the importance of ethics and diversity in the AI field; discuss the ethical issues of AI; study the implications of unethical AI; examine the dark side of corporate-backed AI research and the difficult relationship between corporate interests and AI ethics research; understand the role played by Gebru in promoting diversity and ethics in AI; and explore how Gebru can attract more women researchers in AI and lead the movement toward inclusive and equitable technology. Case overview/synopsis The case discusses how Timnit Gebru (She), a prominent AI researcher and former co-lead of the Ethical AI research team at Google, is leading the way in promoting diversity, inclusion and ethics in AI. Gebru, one of the most high-profile black women researchers, is an influential voice in the emerging field of ethical AI, which identifies issues based on bias, fairness, and responsibility. Gebru was fired from Google in December 2020 after the company asked her to retract a research paper she had co-authored about the pitfalls of large language models and embedded racial and gender bias in AI. While Google maintained that Gebru had resigned, she said she had been fired from her job after she had raised issues of discrimination in the workplace and drawn attention to bias in AI. In early December 2021, a year after being ousted from Google, Gebru launched an independent community-driven AI research organization called Distributed Artificial Intelligence Research (DAIR) to develop ethical AI, counter the influence of Big Tech in research and development of AI and increase the presence and inclusion of black researchers in the field of AI. The case discusses Gebru’s journey in creating DAIR, the goals of the organization and some of the challenges she could face along the way. As Gebru seeks to increase diversity in the field of AI and reduce the negative impacts of bias in the training data used in AI models, the challenges before her would be to develop a sustainable revenue model for DAIR, influence AI policies and practices inside Big Tech companies from the outside, inspire and encourage more women to enter the AI field and build a decentralized base of AI expertise. Complexity academic level This case is meant for MBA students. Social implications Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Subject code CCS 11: Strategy

Components of Public Policy in the Conditions of Implementation of the Mobilization Model of Economic Development

The article examines aspects of public policy formation with the aim of implementing the mobilization model of economic development. Threats and challenges to Ukraine’s national security under martial law indicate about the need for fundamental changes in approaches to the formation of the foundations of public policy aimed at a deep transformation of economic relations. Public policy can become a means of overcoming disputes in society and contribute to the establishment of an order that is recognized by all members of society. And the extent to which public policy takes care of the interests and needs of the common people, or defends transnational, oligarchic, state-bureaucratic, party, confessional, or any other corporate interests, will depend on the actual degree of its publicity and the effectiveness of confronting modern challenges and threats. The main concepts of ensuring the economic security of the state and accelerating its economic development are considered. For the effective functioning of the mobilization model of economic development, there is a need to centralize the state administration system with a strengthening of the role of planning, organization, regulation and control. Economic security is achieved in the presence of the necessary norms, appropriate public policy, an effective mechanism of state administration, effective institutions for the protection of the public interest, and coordination of the activities of political and public forces. The economy of the state should always be aimed at achieving specific social goals, the basis of which is a person, various components of his comprehensive development, his rights, the opportunity to live and work peacefully, cooperation and a fair system. The mobilization model of economic development is meant as an anti-crisis model of the economy, aimed at maximum protection of the state from various threats and challenges, which is based on a special system of public management of economic activity, which allows to ensure the fullest use and restoration of production factors. Only the state can carry out the necessary mobilization of the economy for the benefit of society, taking into account the interests of future generations. Business itself is not capable of this. The work raises the question of fundamental reform of economic relations, overcoming the consequences of economic degradation in the conditions of the arbitrariness of the colonial-oligarchic model of the economy, changing the vector of the country’s socio-economic development in the direction of ensuring economic, technological, digital, cultural and educational sovereignty. According to the results of these processes, not only the management system and the economy must change, people must change, the state itself must change.

Functional Testing Scenario Library Generation Framework for Connected and Automated Vehicles

CAVs (connected and autonomous vehicles) are developing quickly and changing how people drive. Vehicle-to-anything (V2X) technology is rekindling corporate interest as 5G and 6G technologies take off. The absence of a reliable functional testing approach is one of the main issues with current technology. Currently, testing scenario libraries are created manually by testers, which has the drawback of being scarce and ineffective. Traditional automated generating algorithms provide limited-coverage scenarios that do not account for the influence of sensors. Our contributions to solving these issues are as follows. First, we extract the roads in the research region from OpenStreetMap (OSM), filter them, and annotate them using hierarchical clustering of feature values, which creates a static road library. Second, reinforcement learning is used to model dynamic situations using a partly observable Markov decision process (POMDP) in conjunction with sensor inputs. The creation process can be run concurrently with functional tests. Third, the efficiency of simulation testing is increased by integrating the static road library and the dynamic scenario section to produce a sizable library of test scenarios. This increases the realism and coverage of the library. The experimental results show that the proposed scene construction method is well suited for use in SUMO, VTD and other simulators, and has a 388% improvement in scenario coverage compared to the traditional method.

Biodiversity conservation, advocacy coalitions, and science-focused disputes: the case of Caymanian coral reef conservation and the proposed port expansion project

An environmental dispute arose in the Cayman Islands where politicians and multinational cruise companies sought an infrastructure upgrade that would destroy 15 acres of coral reef habitat. A competing coalition emerged to contest this project resulting in important policy change: the first ever people’s-initiated referendum. Our research uses the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) to study how policy change is enacted in a biodiversity conservation policy system. We find differences between two coalitions in members, policy beliefs, resources, and strategy. Policy beliefs of both coalitions reveal two competing realities, especially on the subject of science needed to inform a sustainable tourism economy, with scientific misinformation becoming increasingly impactful in policy making. Second, we find that one coalition leveraged the interests of powerful politicians and international corporations to advocate for the infrastructure project, even though the destruction of coral reefs was in defiance of laws. To contest this, the second coalition leveraged volunteers and small donations to enact policy change, successfully triggering the referendum. Our research is significant because in places where volunteering and small donations are less possible, such as in emerging market economies, it is easy to see how well-resourced interests could degrade biodiversity even with domestic laws protecting species and habitats.

Mediated Trust and Artificial Intelligence

It has been widely observed in recent years that there has been a global crisis of institutional trust. This article explores the concept of mediated trust, using the “Three I's” framework of ideas, interests, and institutions, in order to understand how the interaction between these three elements provides insights into the evolution of mediated trust. It is argued that, in the case of the early Internet, ideas were a key driver of institutional formations. By contrast, with artificial intelligence, there are already an array of powerful corporate interests seeking to drive policy agendas.

Development of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in Vietnam from a coevolutionary governance perspective: Challenges of unholy alliances between the state, businesses and NGOs

Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are widely recognised as a management framework for achieving biodiversity conservation and sustainable ocean uses. Although the attention to improving the governance of MPAs as a priority for achieving effective MPAs has been escalated, debates concerning MPA governance are inspired mainly by the bottom-up governance approach and its focus on horizontal and vertical linkages as a means of resolving conflicts, with the assumption that the state should only take a passive role. As the debates on the best MPA governance model continue, the progress of spatially expanding the global MPA network remains slow and has created many paper parks. Through a coevolutionary governance lens, this paper aims to empirically examine the development of MPAs in Vietnam and reflect on the national realities of achieving global biodiversity targets. Our findings emphasise that governance frameworks adopted for Vietnamese MPAs are typically characterised by a significant decentralisation of responsibilities to province-/district-level governments but with a lack of conditions and accountability attached to such responsibilities and of related oversight from the central government. Consequences include rent-seeking and clientelism opportunities for local authorities, elite capture of MPA benefits, and diminishing trust and stewardship among local communities. Our study suggests that, in the face of increasing overfishing and corporate interests nurtured by the unholy alliances between the state, businesses and NGOs, effective and equitable MPAs critically rely on synergies among different governance approaches, which are case-specific, along with sufficient political will and oversight from the state.

Reimagining US rare earth production: Domestic failures and the decline of US rare earth production dominance – Lessons learned and recommendations

China has dominated the global production of rare-earth elements (REE) since the 1990s. This market dominance is often described as a Chinese victory over competitors—particularly the US—in a geopolitical contest, since REEs are critical components of numerous advanced technologies, including military systems, that great powers compete to control. However, this geopolitical explanation for recent trends in global REE market fails to account for domestic factors—technical, economic, political, and environmental—that significantly impact the exploitation of geologic resources. This paper assesses the causes of decline in US REE production, which facilitated China's domination of the global market. We show that the failure of the US REE production was primarily caused by domestic factors, including misalignment between the US government and corporate interests. At a time when the China-US competition for REE production is seen not only as an economic contest, but also as a matter of national and international security, we argue that strategic cooperation between China and the US could effectively diversify and improve the resilience of REE supply chains and mitigate economic and national security risks associated with potential future disruptions.

“Not what we signed up for”: Nurse shortages, physician scarcity, and time for collective bargaining?

AbstractThe amount of distress and disengagement among many nurses and physicians has reached concerning levels in recent years. The result has been acute nurse shortages, significant increases in travel nursing, more physicians working fewer hours and retiring early, and urgent calls for change and reform. This analysis surveys many of the leading systemic contributors to nurse and physician demoralization. As the healthcare sector continues to experience more consolidation and increased investment by private equity and other corporate interests, physicians are increasingly becoming employees with similar forms of employment arrangements and pressures that nurses have had for decades. They are also becoming employees of the same larger health systems, hospitals, and corporate employers. These trends are leading to a convergence in the kind and intensity of pressures and problems that nurses and physicians face. As more medical residents and fellows increasingly turn to unionization and as growing numbers of nurses have gone on strike, both professions should consider the potential benefits of joining forces for the purposes of maintaining the autonomy they have left and to push for better conditions both for themselves and the patients for whom they care.

Commercial lobbying and political contributions: an Australian scoping review

ObjectiveMany of the most effective and equitable policies to reduce the burden of non-communicable diseases threaten the interests of powerful corporations. A first step for public health advocates seeking to challenge powerful corporate interests is to understand the nature and extent of corporate political practices. This scoping review explored public health research on two political practices in Australia: lobbying and political donations. MethodsWe searched six databases, two Google Advanced searches and 11 Australian public health websites. We screened 2866 documents in total, and extracted information about political practices, industry actors and datasets. Results62 studies published between 1980 and 2021 were identified, analysing public health advocacy, policy submissions, direct engagement with government representatives and political donations. We extracted data from 14 studies that focused on direct engagement and/or political donations. Most focused on ‘unhealthy commodity industries.’ ConclusionsAnalysis of lobbying and political contributions in Australia is a nascent but expanding area of public health research. We discuss opportunities for future research to strengthen the evidence base and support public health advocacy to counter harmful corporate practices and promote and protect population health. Implications for Public HealthCountering powerful commercial interests requires greater investment in understanding corporate political activities.

The Neoliberalisation of the Third Sector Is Almost Complete

This article draws attention to the extent to which third sector organizations have acted as policy catalysts and entrepreneurs for a social investment state, and the extent to which third sector organizations and interests are now dominated by external private and corporate interests. Though the United Kingdom and Ireland are the primary focus, because of the global influence of the British Irish Council and British Council, these developments are now permeating other economies.

Structural violence and the subversion of participatory planning—the struggle for the Warwick Market in Durban, South Africa

Deprivation, poverty, inequality, forced displacement, psychological harm, lack of public participation in planning and benign neglect are examples of structural violence in cities. In the case of benign neglect, public facilities are deliberately neglected in terms of maintenance and provision of basic facilities—a form of ‘slow violence’. Drawing from qualitative data sources that included participant observation, consultations with legal advisors and court hearings, this paper analyses the different forms of structural violence that were used in early 2009 in the city of Durban to try to replace the century old Early Morning Warwick Market which catered for the poor working class, with a mall. The Municipality’s participatory and consultative approach to upgrade the Warwick Avenue Triangle in the first democratic decade (1994–2004) is contrasted with the subversion of participatory planning in the second democratic decade (2004–2014), as Durban prepared for FIFA 2010. The mall development would have resulted in the loss of an important part of Durban’s history, heritage and culture. A key contention of this paper is that the fatally flawed neoliberal planning fiasco in Warwick Avenue was driven by a top-down process which favoured private corporate interests. The mall project was presented as a public–private partnership. However, in such partnerships local democracy is compromised as the fiscal prospects of local governments become dependent on the business decisions of the private sector. There were serious contradictions evident in the juxtaposition of large-scale public-private partnerships such as the mall, and the threats to displace low-income traders, a process which David Harvey called ‘accumulation by dispossession’. The historical and political processes of accumulated and incremental neglect and stigma which encapsulate ‘slow violence’ contributed to the decay and decline of the Early Morning Market. Attempts to displace traders and replace the market with a mall was basically a political decision, aided and abetted by some senior members in the ruling ANC government hierarchy—a shameful period in Durban’s democratic history. The threats to displace the traders in the Early Morning Market was a form of structural violence, which was reminiscent of the apartheid era. The structural violence of apartheid-capitalism continues at the level of outcomes (non-participation and displacement) even under a changed political structure (democracy), as the ANC government pursues a neoliberal agenda.

How marketizing and technologizing education undermines spirituality

ABSTRACT This paper takes education to be concerned with human flourishing, and education that is distinct from instrumental training and which attends to the spirit of students. Such education is holistic and integral and develops the capacity for sustained attention and concentration. Marketization does not, and its impact on education has been long decried. The use of technology in education has always been met with ambivalence. What comprises technology is not obvious, and aspects of it, especially developments in media, undermine sustained attention and concentration. Both marketizing and technologizing an impact on spirituality in education but how they do so in concert with one another and under the aegis of corporations warrants particular scrutiny, which to date has been insufficient, for their combined impact is greater than the sum of the parts. In this paper, markets are distinguished from marketization, and religion from spirituality and mindfulness from what has been labelled McMindfulness and positive psychology. The latter are critiqued for how they have been co-opted by marketization, technology and corporate interests. The conclusion of the paper is that the contemporary pain of educators and students and dysfunctional institutions arises from the loss of spirituality and purpose and that reversing this is essential for humanity’s well-being.

Engaging with the Private Sector for Noncommunicable Disease Prevention and Control: Is it Possible to Create "Shared Value?"

Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are the leading cause of premature mortality worldwide. Corporate interests are sometimes well-aligned with public health, but profiteering from the consumption of products that are known to be the major contributors to the noncommunicable disease burden undermines public health. This paper describes the key industry actors shaping the NCD landscape; highlights the unhealthy commodities' impact on health and the growing burden of NCDs; and outlines challenges and opportunities to reduce exposure to those risk factors. Corporations deploy a wide array of strategies to maximize profits at the expense of health, including sophisticated marketing techniques, interference in the policy-making process, opposition and distortion of research and evidence, and whitewashing of health-harming activities through corporate social responsibility initiatives. There can be no shared value for industries that sell goods that harm health irrespective of consumption patterns (such as tobacco and likely alcohol), so government actions such as regulation and legislation are the only viable policy instruments. Where shared value is possible (for example, with the food industry), industry engagement can potentially realign corporate interests with the public health interest for mutual benefit. Deliberate, careful, and nuanced approaches to engagement are required.

Growth response of oil palm seedling from decanter cake application as fertiliser substitute in nursery

Sustainable waste management is essential to safeguard the environment and corporate interests. Stringent regulations on quality of palm oil mill effluent (POME) discharge led to the introduction of more decanter machines, which increased output of dried POME solid namely oil palm decanter cake (OPDC). Therefore, a field experiment was planned to investigate how OPDC can be directly used as fertiliser for oil palm (OP) seedling to meet the needs of the plants. In polythene bags as planting media, topsoil was combined with OPDC at ratios of 10%, 20%, 30%, and 50%. This was followed by a reduction in inorganic fertiliser at levels of 25%, 50%, a predetermined nutrient deficiency input, and up to 100% for planting medium at a ratio of 50% OPDC to topsoil. Null hypothesis was tested by comparing vegetative development i.e., seedling’s girth, height, rachis length, frond production, petiole size and true leaf area at 3rd, 6th, and 9th month after planting (MAP). OP seedlings able to tolerate OPDC application up to 50% mixture ratio with topsoil from transplanting up to twelve months old of biological age. Growth response in treatments up to 50% and nil fertiliser input showed comparable results (P>0.005) against control in all parameters evaluated across three, six and nine months of growing period. Despite of full manuring input, OPDC application on OP seedlings has neither caused leaf phytotoxicity nor deficiency. In conclusion, OPDC can be applied directly to OP seedling as a fertiliser alternative with equal growth performance to standard method.

Understanding Global Shifts, Social Welfare, and Development—Unevenness in a Globalized World

Social and economic inequalities are both significant and important issues in the study of globalization, while global forces have widened their consequences such as unleashing poverty and gender imbalances in terms of equality. The reasons lie in the reformulation of economic power associated with burgeoning free-market economies and accompanying diffusion of instrumental rationality, commoditization, and secularism. In contrast to the economic downturn and global softening of labor markets, which call for greater social protection, the welfare state has been replaced by a “non-sovereign power” wary of its global positioning but less powerful in shaping daily lives of its populace among social forces including the role of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). However, nation-states still serve important functions in a globe dominated by transnational corporate interests. With few options and having to make controversial choices, welfare provision has seen trends towards the commodification of social welfare whilst globalization is affecting social contracts across nation-states. This paper critically engages in these challenges to governance and development, and assesses how social welfare has been redefined and extended while many populations become embedded in greater forms of poverty creating unevenness across nation-states.

Community‐driven science and science education: Living in and navigating the edges of equity, justice, and science learning

Community‐driven science and science education: Living in and navigating the edges of equity, justice, and science learning

Quantitative Textual Analysis as a means to explore corporate interests in food safety.

The growing body of scholarship on the commercial determinants of health has, so far, mostly employed qualitative methods but this is now being complemented by a small, yet growing, corpus of quantitative studies. We illustrate the use of one such method, quantitative text analysis (QTA), in a case study of submissions to a public consultation on a draft scientific opinion by the European Food Safety Authority on the chemical acrylamide, demonstrating how this method can be used and insights that might be drawn from it. We use Wordscores as one example of QTA to illuminate the diverse positions taken by actors submitting comments and then assess whether the final policy documents moved towards or away from the positions taken by different stakeholders. We find a broadly uniform position among the public health community, opposed to acrylamide, contrasting with industry positions that were not monolithic. Some firms recommended major amendments to the guidance, largely reflecting the impact on their practices, while policy innovators seeking ways to reduce acrylamide in foods aligned with the public health community. We also find no clear movement in the policy guidance, likely because most submissions supported the draft document. Many governments are required to conduct public consultations, some attracting enormous numbers of responses, with little guidance on how best to synthesise the responses so the default position is often a count of those for and against. We argue that QTA, primarily a research tool, might usefully be applied in analysing public consultation responses to understand better the positions taken by different actors.

Formulasi Prioritas Program Corporate Social Responsibility di Bank Syariah: Perspektif Maqasid Al-Shariah

Introduction: This study aims to formulate a priority framework for CSR programs in Islamic banks. The formulation can be used to remove the stigma that Islamic banks' CSR motives are only for economic and corporate interests. Research Methods: This qualitative study formulated a priority framework for CSR programs in Islamic banks using the maqasid al-shariah approach. This type of research was literature research. As a sample, researchers determined two Islamic banks in Indonesia: Bank Muamalat and Bank Syariah Indonesia. The two banks represent the oldest and largest banks in Indonesia. The data was analyzed using content analysis methods and critical study methods. Results: Islamic bank CSR is implemented in the social, economic, educational, and health sectors. The priority of Islamic bank CSR activity programs is based on maqasid al-shariah in accordance with their respective elements and levels. Conclusion: Islamic banks can run CSR programs according to their priorities and urgency based on maqasid al-shari'ah. This priority framework for Islamic banks' CSR activities can increase public trust and a positive image of Islamic banks. Islamic banks can eliminate the negative stigma that Islamic banks' CSR is only carried out with the motive of economic and corporate interests alone.

The user state: an alternative reading of the state role and duty in the age of platformized harm

Abstract States are increasingly delegating their regulatory functions to social media platforms to censor information, and the risk of a state retreat from the regulatory space has been extensively discussed. However, little is said about what this means when the state becomes a user of the same platform from which it retreats as a regulator—and more importantly relies on its user capacity to configure and repress public opinion. This article asks how we go about contextualizing the evolving nature of state violation of rights and freedoms on social media platforms and the state’s dereliction of duty? It argues that the changing dynamic represents a process by which power reproduces itself by linking state and corporate interests to the detriment of the people. Using perspectives from business and human rights and the Afro-centric conception of human rights, it presents an alternative reading of state duty for digital wrongdoing.

‘Land back to the people or not?’ The variable pathways of civic mobilisation against land grabs in rural Sierra Leone

AbstractDrawing on empirical research from Pujehun and Port Loko districts in Sierra Leone, this article explains the variable pathways of civic activism mobilised by environmental advocacy, and legal empowerment organisations, in response to two prominent land grabs. By grounding the analysis within the ontology of place, this study examines the dynamic interplay between national politics, global corporate interests, transnational advocacy, and civic agency in each place. The article finds that although the balance of power between these actors matters, the nature of corporate interests involved can be significant in determining the exact trajectory of civic mobilisation, and ultimately its success.