AI & Equality: A Human Rights Toolbox
Today, the AI & Equality Toolbox has evolved from the 2017 luncheon to workshops throughout 2019 + 2020, an EPFL Masters Thesis in 2021, a global series of validation workshops from 2021 to 2024, and an online course. The Toobox is no longer just a workshop—it’s a movement changing how the next generation of technologists and policy makers understand their responsibility to build inclusive systems from the ground up.
Global Impact: From Classrooms to Online Learning
The demand has been overwhelming. We’ve conducted workshops at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), University College Dublin, Cambridge University Tu/Eindhoven, Technical University Munich, African Centre for Technology Studies, the EU AI Doctoral Academy, and the Sorbonne Center for AI Center amongst others.
Most significantly, in 2023 the AI & Equality Toolbox became an official course on the Sorbonne Center for AI Learning Portal, making our solid, technical yet evidently revolutionary approach freely available to students worldwide. This isn’t just education—it’s creating a global network of technologists and policy makers committed to building AI systems that enhance human dignity.
Through real-world datasets, (and jupyter notebooks for those willing and able), participants don’t just learn about bias—they learn to recognize and mitigate it in real systems. They don’t just discuss ethics à la carte—they implement human rights principles directly in code.
Educational Initiatives:
- Development of a 5-module Online Course in collaboration with the Sorbonne Center for AI (SCAI)
- Global workshop series presented at universities across five continents including EPFL, Cambridge, Makerere University, University of Lagos, American University Cairo, and Chulalongkorn University
- Launched the AI & Equality Human Rights Toolbox J-Term course in 2024, a free 4-week program in 2024 & 2025 with 182 registrants from 52 countries
- Validation by the European Society for Engineering Education (SEFI), bringing human rights frameworks into technical education contexts
The Future of AI Depends on What We Do Now
The AI & Equality Toolbox doesn’t just identify problems—it creates solutions. When a student writes code that checks for gender bias in a hiring algorithm, when a researcher builds a data collection practice that includes marginalized communities, when a professor restructures their computer science curriculum around human rights principles—these are concrete steps toward a more just technological future.
As autocratic tendencies rise globally, as economic inequalities widen, and as climate change accelerates, the systems we build today will determine whether technology amplifies these crises or helps solve them. By embedding human rights principles directly into the DNA of AI development, we’re creating leverage points for systemic change at a crucial moment in history.