Fondo Pensione Cometa, the Italian supplementary pension fund for the metal industry with over €13bn int total assets, is exercising its voting rights at Microsoft’s annual general meeting (AGM) today to raise concerns on a series of issues, asking the tech giant to act on potential risks of misinformation resulting from the use of ChatGPT’s artificial intelligence (AI) platform.
Cometa, which holds $130m worth of Microsoft shares, will vote in favour of a proposal put forward by another shareholder, Arjuna Capital, to force Microsoft to disclose an annual assessment of the operational, financial and social risks of misinformation and disinformation caused by the use of artificial intelligence, the pension fund stated.
The shareholders also demand that Microsoft specifies in its annual report actions that it intends to undertake to mitigate such risks, and the remedies, it added.
Microsoft, which has been a partner of ChatGPT’s maker OpenAI for years, investing $10bn in the company, got rid of the team responsible for ensuring compliance with ethical principles in the development of AI technology, Cometa said.
The scheme will also raise the issue of human rights at today’s AGM, asking for an independent analysis on the establishment of data centers in countries where civil liberties are not respected.
In this case, the main concern is that IT platforms could become a tool for governments monitoring political dissidents in non-democratic regimes, it added.
The pension fund is also in favour of an independent analysis of the reputational and financial risks resulting from Microsoft’s involvement in the military industry.
The company signed a contract worth up $21.88bn over 10 years, according to reports, with the US Department of Defense in 2021 to supply systems for combat simulation based on augmented reality (AR) headsets HoloLens.
The Italian scheme will also support the proposal of non-profit organization As You Sow, asking Microsoft to prepare a report to disclose how its corporate pension fund – 401(k) Plan – takes into account long-term climate risks when investing, to improve information for members. It is also pushing the company on tax transparency and better corporate governance, it said.
The scheme will oppose the compensation paid to the Microsoft’s president and chief executive officer Satya Nadella for the 2022/2023 financial year, equal to $48.5m, approximately 250 times the average salary of the company’s employees.
Cometa expressed concerns relating to the overall amount of variable compensation, equal to 1826% of the basic salary, it added.
The pension fund has voted against the remuneration of CEOs and in favour of labour rights at otehr AGMs recently, after changing the voting policy to reinforce the engagement on social aspects of listed companies it owns.
President Riccardo Realfonso said: “The vote in Microsoft concludes the first year of our [new] voting policy, that has seen us taking position in over 150 companies. [Our position toward] Microsoft shows how we analyse companies in depth. We also carefully examine supply chains, where significant risks of conduct often hide.”
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