Why embracing human rights will ensure AI works for all

AI is not only being used to help decide on loans, insurance claims and job applications, it is also increasingly used in public functions, including in the justice system. For example, in the US courts and correction departments are using AI to aid decisions about bail, sentencing and parole. Yet these algorithms are often a "black box", meaning their inner workings are not known to the people using them, as they are proprietary pieces of software developed by someone else. If an algorithm is going to influence whether you get a mortgage, get a job interview, or – if you are in the unfortunate situation of having a brush with the law – whether you get bail or not, you would want to be sure its assessments are fair. This is impossible if the people using it (a bank, employer, court) have no idea how it works.