This Privacy Policy explains how the African Observatory on Responsible AI NPC t/a Global Center on AI Governance (GCG) obtains, uses and discloses your personal information. GCG is committed to protecting your privacy and ensuring that your personal information is collected and used properly, lawfully and transparently in compliance with South Africa’s Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (“POPIA”).

Who we are

GCG is a not for profit company registered in accordance with the laws of South Africa. The GCG conducts  multidisciplinary research focusing on realising a future where AI serves free and equitable futures for everyone, everywhere. The Global Index on Responsible AI is a  flagship project of GCG made possible by funding from the International Development Research Centre, Canada (IDRC) and USAID. GIRAI is dedicated to measuring countries' commitments and progress towards responsible AI through a comprehensive and multidimensional index. This unique initiative involves data collection and analysis from over 140 countries, encompassing contributions from governments and non-state actors. GIRAI collaborates with regional organizations, including think tanks, universities, civil society organizations, and experts in AI and human rights, forming a robust global  research network.

Our physical address is The Cube Workspace, Pavillion, Corner of Dock Road and Portswood Road, Cape Town, South Africa, 8001. 

The CEO for the GCG is Dr Rachel Adams.

The information we collect

GCG’s work requires us to keep our funders, partners, clients, and website visitors informed of our work, as well as to monitor engagement which is needed for reporting to our funders and stakeholders. We collect and process your personal information mainly to contact you  to keep you informed of GCG events, activities and research. This information is collected primarily through the GCG mailing list as well as through the contact form on our website. For the mailing list we may collect contact details including your name, organisation, institutional affiliation and website.

We collect information directly from you where you provide us with your personal details.  Where possible, we will inform you what information you are required to provide to us and what information is optional.

Website usage information may be collected using “cookies” which allows us to collect standard internet visitor usage information.

This website also uses Google Analytics to collect information about users of our website. The information collected by us includes your Internet Protocol (IP) address, your geographic location, the device and browser you use, the language of your browser, your browsing activity (use of and engagement with) the GCG website including time spent on the website, the pages visited and links clicked on. We also collect information about the Google searches that you used to end up on the GCG website.

Cookies

We may set and access cookies on your computer, which are small files that reside on your computer's hard drive that generally contain an anonymous unique identifier and are accessible only by the website that placed them there and not any other sites. You can choose to enable or disable cookies in your web browser. By default, your browser will accept cookies, but this can be altered. In addition, you may delete cookies that have already been placed on your hard drive. For further details please consult the help menu in your browser. Disabling or deleting cookies may prevent you from using the full range of services available on the Website.

If you leave a comment on our site you may opt-in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.

Mailing list

If you subscribe to our mailing list, we will capture your name and e-mail address in order to respond to your enquiry. We do not use the information submitted through the contact from for marketing purposes. We will share the information with MailChimp, as we need their service to run our mailing list.

Embedded content from other websites

Articles on the website may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited those other website.

These websites may: collect data about you; use cookies; embed additional third-party tracking; and monitor your interaction with that embedded content (including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website).

Analytics

Your information may be shared with Google (Google Analytics and Google Search Console) which we use for the purpose of gathering visitor information. Google’s privacy policy can be found at https://policies.google.com/. We use Google Analytics to track engagement with our content, as well as to report engagement metrics to our funders and donors. Any engagement metrics shared with third parties (other than Google) are aggregated and stripped of personal information before being shared.

Information Security

We will share the information with MailChimp, as we need their service to run our mailing list. We are legally obliged to provide adequate protection for the personal information we hold and to stop unauthorised access and use of personal information. We will, on an on-going basis, continue to review our security controls and related processes to ensure that your personal information remains secure.

Our security policies and procedures cover:

• Physical security;

• Computer and network security;

• Access to personal information;

• Secure communications;

• Security in contracting out activities or functions;

• Retention and disposal of information;

• Acceptable usage of personal information;

• Governance and regulatory issues;

• Monitoring access and usage of private information; and

• Investigating and reacting to security incidents.

When we contract with third parties, we impose appropriate security, privacy and confidentiality obligations on them to ensure that personal information that we remain responsible for, is kept secure.

We will ensure that anyone to whom we pass your personal information agrees to treat your information with the same level of protection as we are obliged to.

Your rights: access to information

You have the right to request a copy of the personal information we hold about you. To do this, simply contact us at the numbers/addresses as provided on our website and specify what information you require.  We will need a copy of your ID document or passport to confirm your identity before providing details of your personal information. Please note that any such access request may be subject to a payment of a legally allowable fee.

Correction of your information

You have the right to ask us to update, correct or delete your personal information. We will require a copy of your ID document to confirm your identity before making changes to personal information we may hold about you. We would appreciate it if you would keep your personal information accurate.

Definition of personal information

According to POPIA  ‘‘personal information’’ means information relating to an identifiable, living, natural person, and where it is applicable, an identifiable, existing juristic person.

Updates or changes to our privacy policy

We will do our best to ensure that you are informed via the mailing list and website of any changes to our privacy policy that may occur.

How to contact us

If you have any queries about this notice; you need further information about our privacy practices; wish to withdraw consent; exercise preferences or access or correct your personal information, please contact us at legal@globalcenter.ai (for the attention of the Director of Business Operations). Our website address is: https://globalcenter.ai.

Revisions

We may revise this Privacy Policy at any time by amending this page. You are expected to check this page from time to time to take notice of any changes we make, as they are binding on you. Some of the provisions contained in this Privacy Policy may also be superseded by provisions or notices published elsewhere on our Website.