European Council introductory handbook on Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights

Turning ethical Artificial Intelligence into reality implies assessing the risks of AI in context, particularly in terms of its impact on civil and social rights and then, depending on the assessed risk, defining standards or regulating the ethical design, development and implementation of algorithmic systems. This is the aim of this introductory handbook by the Council of Europe and the Alan Turing Institute, of late 2021, "Artificial Intelligence, Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law: A Primer". A key initiative in this process was the feasibility study prepared and approved in December by the Council of Europe's Ad Hoc Committee on Artificial Intelligence (CAHAI), which explores options for an international legal response, based on Council of Europe standards in the fields of artificial intelligence, rights, democracy and the rule of law: it proposes nine principles and priorities that are well suited to the new challenges posed by the design, development and deployment of Artificial Intelligence systems. When codified into law, these principles and priorities create a set of interconnected rights and obligations that will work to ensure that the design and use of artificial intelligence technologies conform to the values of human rights, democracy and the rule of law. The key question is whether there are responses to the specific risks and opportunities presented by AI systems that can and should be addressed through the use of binding and non-binding international legal instruments, through the agency of the Council of Europe, which is the guardian of the European Convention on Human Rights, Convention 108, which protects the processing of personal data, and the European Social Charter.