The advances in data and AI revolutionising business today could be the key to ending forced labour, writes John Schultz, chief operating and legal officer at HPE.
Despite years of international collaboration to combat it, modern slavery is on the rise – affecting nearly 50-million people globally. Although the United Nations adopted a legal framework to combat forced labor over 75 years ago, numerous laudable public-private efforts have failed to eradicate this inhumane and pervasive practice.
Today, on the occasion of the United Nations’ annual International Day for the Abolition of Slavery, we reflect on the nearly 40 years since the UN established this Day, and look to spur productive dialogue and collaboration on what can be done to eradicate this crisis.
As a global technology leader, HPE is well-positioned to use our influence and innovation expertise to mobilise key players and spark creative solutions to this age-old problem.
The trick will be to move beyond traditional information sharing mechanisms to leverage the rapid technological advances in data and AI currently revolutionising business models everywhere – for good.
Flying blind – how technology can solve the data deficit
A primary challenge in abolishing modern slavery is that good actors are flying blind. There is an overwhelming absence of timely, trusted and actionable data. Even the most dedicated and vigilant players face great obstacles when trying to build transparent, ethical and responsible supply chains.
Data collection and analysis across global supply chains remains a frustratingly arduous, fragmented and manual process that makes it difficult to act fast enough to combat a partially informal economy that is constantly on the move.
Hard-to-track networks of perpetrators exploit the depth and complexity of global supply chains, while complicit or well-meaning suppliers turn a blind eye – hiding victims in plain sight.
Limited visibility, accountability, and traceability make it nearly impossible to untangle this sophisticated web of abuse.
To root out the culprits behind modern slavery, we need clear, consistent information on risks and incidents; data that is currently inaccessible – scattered across governments, NGOs, corporations, and worker groups.
This is where recent advances in technology innovation could help. The same data-driven and AI-powered tools being developed by enterprises to improve business performance and operational efficiency using enhanced data management, analytics, automation, insights and traceability solutions, could also be applied to uncovering the information gaps currently hindering the fight against modern slavery.
In the dogged pursuit of AI-fuelled breakthroughs, we have a responsibility to also explore how to lend our advancements to the protection of vulnerable groups trapped in forced labour.
That’s why HPE launched the Global Data Partnership Against Forced Labor (GDPFL) with the World Economic Forum and partners from civil society, the United Nations, and business in early 2025. The GDPFL is building a secure, federated data infrastructure that enables organizations to share insights without relinquishing control of sensitive information.
The aim is to identify exploitative practices earlier and strengthen due diligence by connecting diverse datasets.
Under this initiative, HPE developed a technology stack currently in place as a proof-of-concept (POC) in Thailand. It uses multilingual natural language processing and is based on open-source technologies that demonstrate how federated data and agentic AI can transform fragmented information into collective intelligence to flag patterns and risk hotspots.
If successful, this project would empower users by giving them access to rapid insights – enabling them to react with the speed and accuracy required to identify and eliminate forced labor. A scaled solution beyond the POC would replace manual data collection processes, not only accelerating time to insight, but also giving us more robust figures and a better understanding of worker needs.
This paves the way for users across industries to verify authentication and traceability in a way inaccessible before and represents a new way of working together to confront forced labour.
Collaboration for Impact
No single company, agency, or sector can solve modern slavery alone. The fight will require an ecosystem-led approach where business, government, and civil society work together to create change.
As forthcoming legislation in the EU and elsewhere raises the bar for due diligence and transparency, policymakers should move to harmonise regulations, strengthen legal protections for vulnerable workers, and foster meaningful measurement frameworks.
The fight against modern slavery demands more than good intentions – it requires data, technology, and collaboration at scale. Technology, if applied with intention, can be a force for good that we can use to solve challenges once thought insurmountable.
Now is the time for us to harness the technology investment, innovation, and momentum of the data and AI era to revolutionise how we detect, prevent, and address forced labour and exploitation.