Artificial intelligence ('AI') is ubiquitous in society today. It can contribute towards advancements in diverse fields such as healthcare, transportation, public administration, and in helping humanity solve its most pressing challenges, such as climate change. However, the use of AI can also negatively impact human rights, including the right to privacy, freedom of expression, and non-discrimination.
This book takes a legal-philosophical approach in arguing that beyond these individual rights, human rights are being impacted by AI in deeper ways. AI can introduce novel risks and harms that the existing human rights framework is unable to adequately account for. Our new technologically-mediated reality calls into question how human rights are being violated, what counts as human rights violations, and who is violating human rights—all of which poses foundational challenges towards the fitness of the human rights framework in the age of AI.
The Disruptive Impact of AI on Human Rights offers a retheorization of human dignity as vulnerability in the wake of the AI revolution. While seeming counter-intuitive, conceptualizing dignity as vulnerability is necessary to address the lack of participation, unequal power structures, and the uncertainties of AI development trajectories. Rethinking human rights in this manner can help it to remain relevant and robust in the age of AI.
