United Nations resolution on "human rights" in front of artificial intelligence

 On Friday, the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted, by consensus, a resolution calling on the international community to take preventive and control measures with regard to artificial intelligence. The resolution was jointly introduced by South Korea, Austria, Brazil, Denmark, Morocco and Singapore.

China and India said they disagreed but did not ask that the resolution be put to a vote, a common practice when countries are unhappy with a resolution but do not want to block it. Beijing said the text contained "controversial" elements, without elaborating.

AI transparency

The resolution calls for enhancing the "transparency" of AI systems, and ensuring that data for this technology is "collected, used, shared, stored and deleted" in ways that are consistent with human rights. The council has looked at new technologies as a whole before, but for the first time it has so closely examined the development of artificial intelligence.

This decision emphasized the importance of "ensuring, promoting and protecting human rights throughout the operation of artificial intelligence systems," said South Korean Ambassador Yoon Seung-duk, while his US counterpart Michelle Taylor saw the decision as a "step forward" for the council.

Cautious approach

For his part, Belgian Ambassador Marc Becstein de Petserve declared on behalf of the European Union, "We fully agree when the resolution stresses the need, among other things, for preventive measures, due care and human oversight in relation to artificial intelligence," calling for a "cautious approach" to ensure the protection and respect of human rights. In a world where technology is developing rapidly.

Given their great technical complexity, AI systems are as impressive as they are disturbing. If it is able to save lives through a qualitative leap in diagnosing diseases, then it is also exploited by authoritarian regimes to exercise collective control over citizens.