"Shareholders Prod Big Tech, Entertainment Giants Over AI Risks" 18 April 2024

Alphabet Inc. and Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. are the latest big companies facing upcoming shareholder proposals asking them to grapple with how fast-moving AI technology could harm workers and the public.

Investors want the companies to disclose risks that artificial intelligence could pose to their businesses and report on their ethical guidelines. Some other pending shareholder votes, such as one at Meta Platforms Inc., also highlight the risk of AI-produced misinformation or disinformation interfering in upcoming elections across the globe. ...

...The AFL-CIO said it withdrew shareholder bids at Walt Disney Co. and Comcast Corp. after those companies agreed to disclose more information on the use of AI, but the labor group has similar campaigns underway that are poised for investor votes at Amazon.com and Netflix Inc.'s annual meetings.

AI-related proposals that already faced votes at Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp. garnered an unusual amount of momentum for relatively new investor bids, though they both failed to gain the majority shareholder support needed to pass over opposition from company management...

...[a] proposal filed by Arjuna Capital, asked Microsoft to report on AI risks and explain how the company plans to remediate potential harms, including misinformation and disinformation. About 21% of Microsoft investors voted in favor of the proposal...

...Meta and Alphabet face similar shareholder proposals focused on misinformation and disinformation from Arjuna Capital....

...At Apple’s annual meeting in February, 37.5% of investors supported a shareholder bid asking the company to disclose more information about how it uses AI and navigates the technology’s ethics...