Safeguarding human rights in the era of artificial intelligence

The use of artificial intelligence in our everyday lives is on the increase, and it now covers many fields of activity. Something as seemingly banal as avoiding a traffic jam through the use of a smart navigation system, or receiving targeted offers from a trusted retailer is the result of big data analysis that AI systems may use. While these particular examples have obvious benefits, the ethical and legal implications of the data science behind them often go unnoticed by the public at large. Artificial intelligence, and in particular its subfields of machine learning and deep learning, may only be neutral in appearance, if at all. Underneath the surface, it can become extremely personal.