From protests to policy
In the report, we recorded numerous instances of AI resistance, including protests against the environmental impacts of data centers, opposition from big tech employees over military applications of AI, public outcry over the UK’s A-level grading fiasco. While not intended to be exhaustive, we surveyed six key areas where such resistance has been particularly active:
- (i) creative industries
- (ii) migration and border control
- (iii) medical AI
- (iv) higher education
- (v) defense and security sectors and
- (vi) environmental activism.
Thereby, we highlighted key actors in AI resistance, with particular emphasis on the role of civil society in mobilising public opposition. The report also looks at how governments have turned some forms of resistance into law. One example is the EU AI Act, which prohibits certain AI systems like deliberately manipulative AI practices.