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The AIMS project leverages modern artificial (AI) techniques to help analyze corporate reporting data and promote compliance with modern slavery laws. Over time, this can lead to a viable global solution in the fight against modern slavery.
In 2020, Adriana Bora and The Future Society partnered with Walk Free to launch phase 1 of the AIMS project. Building on work already carried out by Walk Free, WikiRate, Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, the goal of the project was to create a methodology for analyzing statements produced by private companies under the UK Modern Slavery Act.
Today, more than 50 million people live in circumstances involving slavery-based practices. One such practice is forced labor, a type of exploitation often embedded into corporate supply chains. Unfortunately, the complex world of supply chains is particularly opaque, which has enabled the widespread use of forced labor.
Human rights organizations use various indicators to assess the prevalence of this problem. According to the international human rights group Walk Free, G20 countries import USD$468 million worth of products annually – including electronics, garments, palm oil, solar panels, textiles and other everyday goods - considered to be at risk of being produced by forced labor.
The United Kingdom and Australia were among the first countries to adopt laws on modern slavery. Many other countries have joined them or are considering similar legislation.
Modern slavery laws generally require large companies to publish annual reports outlining their efforts to eliminate slavery from their supply chains. This transparency helps governments and citizens hold the private sector accountable and advocate for change, both locally and globally.
In the UK alone, an estimated 12,000 to 17,000 statements on modern slavery are published each year. Australia received around 3,500 statements in its first reporting cycles, and these numbers are expected to rise. Without adequate resources, governments and NGOs struggle to properly review this volume of information. As a result, many statements remain unanalyzed.
As more countries adopt modern slavery laws, the number of statements submitted annually is likely to increase. However, the lack of proper analysis can significantly weaken the impact of the law and hamper efforts to address modern slavery.
The AIMS project was initiated in 2020-2021 as part of a master's thesis by Adriana Bora, one of the 20 Rising Stars in AI Ethics and one of the Top 100 Romanians Living Abroad in the science category. A social scientist passionate about leveraging machine learning for social good, Adriana Bora began researching how AI could play a role in eliminating modern slavery.
Using data science, machine learning techniques like natural language processing (NLP) and computational linguistics, the first phase of the AIMS project looked for methods that would enable swift and comprehensive analysis of MSA reports. These methods could help users to obtain valuable information about slavery statements, which would be an essential step towards improving transparency within corporations and fostering continued progress in the global fight against this pressing challenge.
Facts and outcomes of phase 1
In phase 1 of our research, our primary objective was to tackle challenges associated with modern slavery reporting data. This phase encompassed tasks such as ascertaining which statements warranted analysis, gathering modern slavery statements, securing access to these statements, extracting text from them, and identifying ground truth data. Furthermore, we executed initial data-driven experiments aimed at mitigating the constraints of our ground truth data. Additionally, a series of machine learning experiments were carried out on this dataset.
The AIMS project has engaged with two of the world’s most renowned AI and data science research organizations: Mila and Australia’s Queensland University of Technology (QUT)’s Centre for Data Science for the next phase of its research.
Using the Australian Modern Slavery Act as a test case, the goal is to explore how cutting-edge AI can be used to compare thousands of private sector statements.
The objectives are to
The AIMS project also hopes to inspire others to apply their expertise, whether in software engineering, data science or social sciences to the field of AI in the fight against modern slavery.
The goal of the AIMS project is twofold: empower civil society and legislators to hold businesses and governments to account; and pave the way for a new type of public policy and legislation, which embraces the full power of data mining and processing.
The AIMS project is a unique opportunity for organizations and companies that believe in the power of social change. Join us and play a leading role in the fight against modern slavery in corporate supply chains. By supporting the second phase of the project, you will be aligned with other leading industry partners.
We are seeking to fund the planned 2-year Phase 2 research project using Australia’s Modern Slavery Act as a test case.
Partners can help us create valuable open source research and lay the groundwork for a long-term, data-driven solution for monitoring compliance and tackling modern slavery.
Partnering with the AIMS project goes beyond supporting research. It’s an opportunity to drive forward important change that can have a tangible impact.
Adriana Bora is the Project Lead of Project AIMS at Mila, AI for Humanity and a PhD Candidate in the School of Mathematical Sciences at the Queensland University of Technology.
Adriana’s main area of expertise is in using technology against modern slavery. Her research focuses on applying machine learning in analyzing and benchmarking the businesses’ reports published following the Modern Slavery Acts from the UK and Australia.
Adriana is listed as one of the 20 Rising Stars in AI Ethics 2022 and won the UNESCO International Research Centre in Artificial Intelligence (IRCAI)’s AI Award 2021 for her efforts to develop AI solutions to combat modern slavery, contributing to SDG 8, Target 8.7.
Adriana holds a Master’s Degree in International Public Management from Sciences Po Paris School of International Affairs (PSIA). She has also studied at the University of Hong Kong and holds a diploma in International Relations and Advanced Quantitative Methods from the University of Essex in the UK.
