Student AI activists at Encode Justice release 22 goals for 2030 ahead of global summit in Seoul

Encode Justice, founded by 19-year-old Sneha Revanur, is pushing governments to take more concrete steps on AI regulation to ensure equality and safety

The AI 2030 document has attracted high-profile signatories including former Taiwan digital minister Audrey Tang and AI computer scientist Yoshua Bengio

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Concerns about the potential impact of artificial intelligence on everyday life have driven the student-led organisation Encode Justice to push for government action. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 9:00pm, 21 May 2024Updated: 10:07am, 22 May 2024

Sneha Revanur is a 19-year-old incoming junior at Stanford University, but she is already making waves in Washington as an activist on the ethical use of artificial intelligence (AI). Her organisation Encode Justice has put out a new list of goals ahead of this week’s AI Seoul Summit.

Encode Justice last week released its AI 2030 plan, a list of five broad calls to action and 22 specific goals that the students behind the group hope to see addressed in concrete ways by 2030. The goals include issues that have been part of the global conversation around AI but have so far seen little progress on international agreement. These include disclosures for when AI is used in political advertising or when users interact with the technology, ownership over personal data, and preventing the use of automated weapons of mass destruction.

While founded in the US, Encode Justice has participation from students in 30 countries, according to its website. The Generation Z activists have also found some high-profile academics and officials from around the world to join as signatories to the AI 2030 document, including former Taiwan digital minister Audrey Tang.

“Obviously we have a pretty clear case to make here [given that] we’re the generation that’s actually going to inherit the impacts of these technologies,” Revanur said. “So world leaders have a particular duty to us to ensure that … they’re actually keeping [this] in mind as they pursue governance going forward.”

Encode Justice founder Sneha Revanur pictured outside the US Capitol building in Washington. At 19-years-old, Revanur has already been addressing policymakers, and Encode Justice was one of several organisations consulted for the US “Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights”. Photo: Instagram / @sneha.revanur

Tang – whose term ended with that of Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen on Monday – said she was drawn to lending her name to the document because of Encode Justice’s “comprehensive approach to ethical AI development, focusing on inclusivity and safety”.