AI and human rights - a different take on an old debate

On September 15 2021, the UN issued a statement that AI must not interfere with human rights. This isn't a new sentiment - last year, a similar pronouncement was issued: Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights chief is calling for a moratorium on the use of artificial intelligence technology that poses a serious risk to human rights, including face-scanning systems that track people in public spaces. It also said Wednesday that countries should expressly ban AI applications which don't comply with international human rights law. As part of its work on technology and human rights, the UN Human Rights Office has today published a report that analyses how AI – including profiling, automated decision-making and other machine-learning technologies – affects people's right to privacy and other rights, including the rights to health, education, freedom of movement, freedom of peaceful assembly and association, and freedom of expression. Applications that should be prohibited include government "social scoring" systems that judge people based on their behavior and certain AI-based tools that categorize people into clusters such as by ethnicity or gender.