Meta isn’t setting its Oversight Board free just yet

Source Domain: www.engadget.com

The Oversight Board — the policy body Meta created to weigh its most impactful moderation rulings — has seen its role within Mark Zuckerberg’s empire come into question due to shifting content policy priorities and dwindling investment. The Oversight Board has taken steps to formalize its long-contemplated desire to work with other companies, but Engadget has learned Meta has thus far declined to move forward with that process.

Over the last year, board members have become increasingly interested in artificial intelligence policy and how their experience shaping Meta’s content rules could translate into advising companies in the generative AI space. That interest has intensified as some AI companies have privately signaled they would be open to working with the board, according to a source familiar with the organization who was not permitted to speak publicly. The board began talks with Meta last fall about the possibility, which would require the company to sign off on changes to the legal documents that govern the board’s operations. But Meta officials have not indicated whether the company is willing to make those changes, which would likely require approval from top executives.

Platformer, which first reported on Meta’s budget negotiations with the Oversight Board, noted that the company “has long encouraged the board to seek additional funding sources.” So far, no other company has publicly shown interest in working with the group, though the board has had conversations with other firms behind the scenes.

Oversight Board co-chair Paolo Carozza told Engadget in December that there had been “really preliminary” discussions between the board and AI companies, though he declined to name which ones in particular. “It feels like quite a different moment now, largely because of generative AI, LLMs, chatbots [and] the way that a variety of retail-level users of these technologies are facing a whole new set of challenges and harms that’s attracting a lot of…

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