Interdisciplinary research project analyzing risks, opportunities and regulation of AI in the context of human rights.

The aim of the project is to identify and assess the risks and opportunities in the relationship between AI and human rights and to propose solutions how AI technologies should be developed, used and regulated in order to prevent human rights violations and support their further progress and protection. The project is based on an interdisciplinary analysis of AI technologies aiming to identify the source of human rights violation in all phases of "AI life cycle" and on subsequent formulation of a set of recommendations for technical and regulatory remedy.

The research focuses on the full lifecycle of artificial intelligence to identify the root causes of the human rights violations.

An intedisciplinary team of international law and human rights law experts, AI and IT experts and Czech law and EU law specialists carry on the research project in the framework of the consortium of the Ambis University, AI Center FEE CTU, Institute of Law and Technology of Masaryk University and prg.ai as the application garantor. The principal investigator of the project is JUDr. Bc. Martina Šmuclerová, Ph.D. from Ambis who is also affiliated with the prestigious Paris Institute of Political Studies (SciencesPo).

Current shortcomings in human rights protection may be diminished by the automatisation of the respective human acitivities. We focus on the following areas: justice, detention, discrimination, freedom of expression, disappearances, refugees, asylum seekers and migrants, police violence, child rights, disability rights, rights of older people, climate change, indigenous peoples, right to dignity, sexual reproductive rights.

Prevention of human rights violation

To assure the effective implementation of human rights norms in the AI domain, it is first necessary to identify the root causes of the human rights violations within the AI life cycle in order to formulate a remedy.

  • The root causes can reside in all phases of the AI life cycle, starting with the incomplete input data, passing by a biased transfer learning, up to a malicious application.
  • The corresponding remedies can be diverse: problems might be solved via e.g. a technical adjustment of the machine learning procedure, rules on the processing of data, or a more robust legal interference restricting or banning the development and use of certain AI technologies.

A comprehensive approach linking international human rights and AI expertise is thus indispensable in order to provide a holistic and solution-oriented viewpoint.

Interdisciplinary workshop with governmental and AI private sector representatives (29 September 29, 2022 at CTU).

Support for human rights protection

Current shortcomings in human rights protection may be diminished by the automatisation of the respective human acitivities. We focus on justice, detention, discrimination, freedom of expression and other areas listed above. The relationship between AI and human rights is, for now, double-edged. AI brings great benefits to all sectors of society and strengthens progress, social well-being and economic competitiveness. At the same time, however, it poses risks to a variety of human rights and fundamental freedoms, be it due to the intrinsic technological processes, human input or its abusive or malicious use in practice.

Project information

Start date: 1 May 2021
End date: 31 October 2023
Call: TA ČR ÉTA 5 (Technology Agency of the Czech Republic)
Project ID: TL05000484

Further information and documents can be found on the project website.