Face scanning and 'social scoring' AI can have 'catastrophic effects' on human rights, UN says

The United Nations has urged a moratorium on artificial intelligence systems, such as face scanning and social credit systems, that could be a threat to human rights. Michelle Bachelet, the high commissioner for human rights, said countries should ban AI applications that do not comply with international law. Applications that should be prohibited include government "social scoring" systems that judge people based on their behaviour and certain AI-based tools that categorize people into clusters such as by ethnicity or gender. AI-based technologies can be a force for good but they can also "have negative, even catastrophic, effects if they are used without sufficient regard to how they affect people's human rights," Bachelet said in a statement. Her comments came with a new UN report that examines how countries and businesses have rushed into applying AI systems that affect people's lives and livelihoods without setting up proper safeguards to prevent discrimination and other harms.