How Can Artificial Intelligence Potentially Affect Our Human Ri…

The ability of a machine or computer program to acquire information and apply reasoning is known as Artificial Intelligence (AI). From self-driving cars to various implementations of facial recognition technology, AI is helping make our lives easier and more efficient, hence it is being applied across various industries. We can lock our mobile phones to help keep them secure, and save time tagging our friends on group photos on Facebook. The rapid development of AI technology now influences various aspects of our lives from socializing, education, work to law enforcement. As well as the benefits, experts have compared the potentially detrimental effects of the development of AI to climate change and nuclear war. This has led to the need of creating ethical guidelines to be put in place of this new area just as those needed for the equally new space laws (when talking about the colonization of Mars and land rights).

Artificial intelligence has the potential to infringe on human rights by violating privacy and driving discrimination and inequality. Discrimination can easily be caused by an algorithmic bias. For example, if we select articles with a specific viewpoint online, algorithmically we will be presented with other articles of similar viewpoints which only amplifies our bias. It limits the diversity of our opinions and creates polarization, which can lead to the devastation of vulnerable minorities. In the same way, this can also influence what we buy online to mass opinion on world politics. The spread of misinformation and ‘fake news’ and the use of ‘bots’ that create fake content through social media recently became a hot topic in the media during the US elections. It is sometimes unclear what is ‘fair’ to report when taking into account cultural and political context, for example, much news by Palestinians was removed by Facebook under pressure from Israel accusing it of being ‘anti-Semitic’ which Palestinian organizations deny. Facebook has been accused of violating free speech and this case shows those in power may ultimately have control of what we see, again creating a news bias. It is also becoming increasingly easier to fabricate video and auditory evidence with developing technology which could lead to the framing of innocent individuals.