Jan 2024: A.I. regulations doomed to fail without whistleblower protections

In 2023, artificial intelligence went from a niche topic to a primary concern for policymakers around the world. The E.U. reached a landmark deal on the A.I. Act; the U.S. Senate held a series of hearings on A.I. and the White House issued an executive order regarding new standards for A.I. safety and security; the U.K. and other countries also published their own national strategies and guidelines. This year, these policies will start to morph into concrete action.

Yet these efforts are missing a key ingredient to effective A.I. regulation: internal checks and balances that allow workers to safely blow the whistle when they witness wrongdoing or potential harm.

Read our full analysis from TSN Legal Director Jennifer Gibson here.

Council of Europe’s new commissioner has power to advance whistleblower protections

At TSN, we believe that whistleblowers are human rights defenders. They help advance human rights by speaking out about public wrongdoing. Last week, the Council of Europe elected Michael O’Flaherty as its new Commissioner of Human Rights, its highest-level position focusing on promoting human rights in its 46 member states.

Read our thoughts on Flaherty’s responsibilities to further advance whistleblower protections here.

“Fool Me Once”: Why “Corey the Whistle” is a misnomer

Popular cinema and TV have long been fascinated by the figure of the whistleblower. It’s not hard to find listicles of “the top X best movies/shows about whistleblowers.” Some are fictional, some are not.
One of the latest in this subgenre is “Fool Me Once,” a British thriller series released this month on Netflix.

Read our full analysis by TSN Whistleblower Protection Program Manager Mia Marzotto here. (Warning: It contains spoilers for the show.)

Whistleblower news roundup

– For more than a year, BBC Panorama spoke to former and current maternity staff at Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Trust who say a poor culture and staff shortages led to baby deaths that could have been avoided, report Michael Buchanan and Theopi Skarlatos.
– Boeing’s quality control has drawn criticism as a whistleblower alleges lapses at the company’s factory, reports Joel Rose for NPR.
– The Vatican has released new rules outlining the rights and responsibilities of a whistleblower, reports Philip Pullella for Reuters.
– A whistleblower and former senior engineer at Instagram says Meta already has the infrastructure in place to shield teenagers from harmful content but has not done enough to safeguard children, reports Dan Milmo for The Guardian.

Thanks to our media sponsors

In 2023, The New York Times in the U.S. and Mediapart in France became TSN’s first media sponsors. By partnering with TSN, both took a stand to protect journalists, their whistleblower sources and the global news ecosystem — and we need more media to join them.

For more information about becoming a media sponsor, read more here and reach out to info@thesignalsnetwork.org.