Our Values
The following core values are the driving force behind who we are, what we aim for, and how we work. They shape our identity and culture, guide our choice of partners, and inform everything we do.
Passion: Passion for democracy and ensuring a human-centric approach to AI governance is the driving force behind our actions. It shapes our commitment to fulfil our policy objectives. It fosters resilience and innovative thinking in tackling obstacles and turning them into opportunities to do better. We believe that civil society organisations have an essential role to play in fostering a healthy and lively democracy. The AI revolution generates a digital divide which increases economic, social and political inequalities between those behind the revolution and the people. It is our mission to represent the voices and defend the interests of people with humility, openness and empathy, based on fundamental rights, democratic values and the rule of law. Only by nurturing a vibrant civil society ecosystem, can we empower and inspire individuals, communities and institutions to tackle the great challenges AI technology poses.
Collaboration: We deliver impact at the scale of the challenges AI poses to democratic societies through the power of collective action and innovation. We firmly believe in collective intelligence and joint efforts as the best way forward to bring about positive and lasting societal change. We value diversity, fair and respectful cooperation in all our endeavours and prioritise collaborative initiatives in our policy strategy. We contribute in building an ecosystem of trust, mutual learning and solidarity among people and organisations from different backgrounds, cultures and disciplines towards ensuring human-centric AI.
Sustainability: The right to a sustainable environment also entails obligations, enshrined in our own internal policies. The pandemic has shown us that not all professional travel is as necessary as we thought and video conferencing can be an effective alternative. We are committed to lower our carbon footprint by implementing the following guidelines:
Remote participation is systematically considered as an alternative to attending meetings, conferences or events;
Train travel is the default option, flying the exception. Unless extraordinary circumstances, we do not fly to destinations that can be reached by train within six hours;
Shared or public transport is the rule, individual transport (taxi, ride-hail) the exception.
We encourage remote work to avoid commuting;
We are, as much as possible, a paperless office and avoid printing;
We avoid the unnecessary or disproportionate use of energy-intensive AI systems in accomplishing our work.
Integrity: We live the principles we call on others to meet. CAIDP Europe abides by CAIDP’s Code of Professional Ethics, the first in the field of AI policy. The goal is to ensure that those who provide advice regarding AI policy commit themselves to a high level of professional conduct. The Code recognises that AI systems impact the rights and opportunities of others, may pose a risk to human rights, democracy and the rule of law, and that bias is an ongoing challenge. Among other obligations, the Code requires individuals to ensure that AI systems are fair, transparent and accountable.
Transparency: CAIDP Europe supports transparency as an essential attribute of democratic decision-making. We publish our statutes, governance structure, strategic plan, information about funders and partners, as well as annual reports on our website. From the moment of our incorporation, CAIDP Europe will be registered on the European Transparency Register where we list the key pieces of EU legislation and policies we are following as well as the costs of our advocacy work at EU level. We welcome the European inter-institutional agreement on a Mandatory Transparency Register. However, we also call on European institutions to ensure equal and transparently regulated access to public decisions. Civil society is largely outweighed by tech companies. Studies and available data show that during the EU AI Act negotiations in 2023, Big Tech received privileged and disproportionate access to senior European policy-makers. In 2023, MEPs registered 227 meetings on AI. 185 of them were held with industry and trade associations. Out of the 97 meetings held by senior Commission officials on AI in 2023, 84 were with industry and trade associations, twelve with civil society, and just one with academics or research institutes. The secrecy of the trilogues also benefitted corporate interests’ representation. Full transparency in democratic processes is essential to achieve human-centric AI regulation.
Independence: Independence is central to CAIDP Europe’s ability to carry out its mission. The majority of our support comes from charitable foundations, individual donors as well as CAIDP in the launching phase of CAIDP Europe. Learn more about our funding policy here.
Accountability: CAIDP Europe is accountable to its Supervisory Board, funders, partners in collaborative projects and the people and communities it serves regarding the achievement of its policy objectives. CAIDP Europe piloted its incorporation as a non-profit in Brussels with the support of Organisation Development Support (ODS) specialised in assisting and auditing non-profit organisations. CAIDP Europe has prepared and made publicly available a 3-year strategic plan with clear policy priorities and actions.
The Strategic plan will be reviewed every year with:
Input from our own team, the Supervisory Board and partners;
Evaluation of the actions performed substantively (topicality and priority of the issues covered), quantitatively (number of actions, impact, stakeholders’ engagement) and qualitatively (diversity parameters);
Updates based on input, evaluation, recent developments and new trends.
We always welcome questions, insights and feedback, please do not hesitate to contact us. We also commit to conduct regular independent financial, compliance and operational audits.