Human rights are integrally linked with the advancement and implementation of artificial intelligence. This article focuses on the rapid and unregulated development of AI that leads to the degradation of human rights, and its application in connection with human rights may jeopardise its core principles. As the influence of AI expands, its effects on human rights become increasingly significant, particularly regarding freedom of speech and expression, the right to work, the right to privacy, and more.

The rapid development and application of AI in the field of human rights, according to this article, calls for an all-encompassing strategy to strike a balance between promoting innovation and defending rights. This article highlights the negative effects of the artificial intelligence on human rights in order to address the pressing need for regulatory and accountability frameworks, as well as the potential benefits of AI for societal improvement. It also emphasizes that various stakeholders must work in order to resolve the problems caused by inadequate AI governance and ensure that its development conforms with human rights standards.

Introduction
Artificial intelligence (AI) represents a technological evolution encompassing machine learning, natural language processing, big data analysis, algorithms, and additional components. It refers to various technologies that replicate human intellect and improve machines' capabilities to carry out cognitive functions. Some instances of this technology are robotics, automation, generative AI, medical applications, self-driving cars, natural language processing, and predictive analysis.

AI is not only understood under the term of technology but also under the term of society. It includes technology systems that are used, absorbed, and impacted on society. All of the AI aspects are put into a social context and have direct influences on society. AI appears increasingly in numerous parts of our lives, such as criminal justice, finance, healthcare, education, human resources, and online content moderation. It brings many benefits and values to people, contributes to the implementation of human rights; however, it also results in several negative impacts1.

Ensuring the protection of human rights in our digital era is an essential issue, especially with the prevalence of AI technologies like voice recognition, chatbots, facial recognition, unsupervised learning, and natural language processing. Despite these worries, AI offers significant potential for human progress. Applications such as supply chain optimization, telemedicine, contact tracing, disease diagnosis, and outbreak prediction, for instance, contributed to alleviating and managing the turmoil experienced during the pandemic era.

The legal discourse arises over the integration of AI into areas concerning human rights is directly concerned with its negative impact on freedom of speech and expression, data protection, the right to privacy, the right to work, and the right to non-discrimination, etc. These aspects are more elaborately expressed in the following headings by way of qualitative approach with the help of previously published Journal articles, Case studies, Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) reports, Intergovernmental organizations recommendations and reports, etc.

Utilizing the power of AI for Human rights

Artificial intelligence holds great promise for advancing human rights through democratising access to information, democratizing skills and knowledge, improving healthcare, and increasing accessibility. In the realm of healthcare, AI-driven diagnostic tools have shown promising results in improving patient outcomes by providing faster and more accurate diagnoses. Remote areas with limited access to medical expertise are benefitting from AI- enabled telemedicine solutions, ensuring equitable healthcare access.2

Under Article 19 of the UDHR, "Everyone has the right to freedom of expression, which includes the freedom to hold opinions, as well as the right to receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." AI and large language models (LLMs) — a specific category of generative AI models that can understand and generate human-like text — enhance people's ability to access information, an integral part of the freedom of expression. These tools allow people to exercise their freedom of expression rights in novel ways, including Instant access to information and exchange of ideas, Democratizing skills and knowledge, Empowering satire and artistic expression.3

In education, the key advantages that are gained through harnessing the power of AI include Enhanced Personalized Learning, Translation and language learning, Teaching assistants, Lesson planning, Automated grading etc. With increasing interest in AI and education, the Education 4.0 Alliance sought to understand the current state and future promises of the technology for education.

The latest report – Shaping the Future of Learning: The Role of AI in Education 4.0 – shows four key promises that have emerged for AI to enable Education 4.0:

1. Supporting teachers' roles through augmentation and automation
2. Refining assessment and analytics in education
3. Supporting AI and digital literacy
4. Personalizing learning content and experience
5. Privacy right and data protection

AI can scrutinize a large set of data that are collected by various digital websites in the form of feedback and response systems. Various technology companies (such as Google, Meta, X etc.) may use this scrutinized data for their business purpose which may consist of a person's protected and sensitive data.

Various nations governments recognize the right to privacy as a paramount right which is recognized as a human right. For instance, the Supreme Court of India unequivocally recognises this right as a fundamental right with the judgement of Justice K.S. Puttaswamy(Retd.) vs Union of India 5. The Supreme Court's unanimous declaration of privacy as an intrinsic part of life and personal liberty under Article 21 established a firm foundation for its protection. It underscored privacy's interconnection with other constitutional freedoms such as equality, free speech & expression, and religion.6

AI's surveillance over personal data could create a serious impact on right to privacy worldwide. Surveillance and privacy are two sides of the same coin if surveillance is increased without proper regulation, it would severely affect privacy rights. One of the most infamous AI-related privacy breaches involves the social media giant Facebook and political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica. Cambridge Analytica collected data of over 87 million Facebook users without their explicit consent, using a seemingly innocuous personality quiz app.

This data was then used to build detailed psychological profiles of the users, which were leveraged to target personalized political advertisements during the 2016 US Presidential Election. This case highlighted the potential of AI to infer sensitive information (political views in this case) from seemingly benign data (Facebook likes), and misuse it for secondary purposes7.

Unintended consequences of AI on right to work

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), adopted in 1948, recognizes the right to work under Article 23. Similar to this, the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, adopted in 1966, includes the right to work in Article 6. Article 23, subclause 1 of UDHR, states that everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work, and to protection against unemployment.8

The very part "Protection against unemployment" is threatened due to the increasing use of artificial technology. The automatic mechanism and time efficiency in comparison to humans, can affect the employment opportunities for the human workforce, which may cause severe problems of unemployment across the world. As per the various sources, AI could replace the equivalent of 300 million jobs, a report by investment bank Goldman Sachs says. Experts predicts that AI may take one fifth of jobs by 2050, and not just jobs which are often classed as 'unskilled'.9

Controlling Freedom of Speech and Expression and Right to movement through AI

In the digital age, technology significantly affects the freedoms of speech, expression, and movement. It also influences the control and use of information. Of all the technologies, artificial intelligence (AI) systems are designed to be inherently set up in social media networks and search engines, which can manipulate and change information to spread false information.

Article 19 of Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and international covenant on Civil and Political Rights talks about freedom of speech and expression. Article 19 of the UDHR states that, "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers."10 These rights are often compromised by various government and technology giants.

For instance, a report by Freedom House organization, in a record 55 of the 70 countries covered by Freedom on the Net, people faced legal repercussions for expressing themselves online, while people were physically assaulted or killed for their online commentary in 41 countries. The most egregious cases occurred in Myanmar and Iran, whose authoritarian regimes carried out death sentences against people convicted of online expression-related crimes. In Belarus and Nicaragua, where protections for internet freedom plummeted during the coverage period, people received draconian prison terms for online speech, a core tactic employed by longtime dictators Alyaksandr Lukashenka and Daniel Ortega in their violent campaigns to stay in power.11

Freedom of movement derives itself from many international declarations and has been recognized as a fundamental individual right by many countries. AI's ability to limit this right is specifically related to its usage for surveillance purposes. A report from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace pointed out that at least 75 of 176 countries globally are actively using AI for security purposes, such as border management. There have been concerns regarding the disparate impact of surveillance on populations that are already discriminated by police – such as Blacks, refugees and irregular migrants – as predictive policing tools end up factoring in "dirty data" reflecting conscious and implicit bias.12

The need for regulations of AI

As AI's landscape is continuously evolving, concerns regarding surveillance in personal lives, Job displacement, controlled social media algorithms, Companies using algorithms to vet job applicants etc., are getting personal and mismanaging it could do serious harm. So, there is alarming need to control and regulate AI to prevent abuse of human rights across the world.

There have been growing international efforts to develop legislation and regulations, but it's a work in progress. In 2021, the EU (European Commission) proposed the first proactive regulatory framework for AI. As the functioning of AI systems is based on collecting and using personal data, it necessitates stringent rules to respect and ensure individual privacy. The legislation envisioned by the EU aims to restrict the uncontrolled functioning of AI systems.

The AI Act complements GDPR and intends to give the EU significant control over AI development, use, and regulation. Notably, the Act is expected to be guided by transparency, accountability, and ethical principles to ensure the concerns and interests of the users are addressed. By leveraging these principles and considerations, the EU seeks to become the global leader in regulating ethical standards and, thus, competitiveness and innovation in deploying AI.13

Several countries have been proactive in their approach to regulating AI by framing different legislation. For instance, India was expected to include AI regulation as part of its proposed Digital India Act, although a draft of this proposed legislation is yet to be released. However, it was reported that a new AI advisory group has been formed, which will be tasked with (1) developing a framework to promote innovation in AI (including through India-specific guidelines promoting the development of trustworthy, fair, and inclusive AI) and (2) minimizing the misuse of AI.

In March 2024, the government also released an Advisory on Due Diligence by Intermediaries/Platforms, which advises platforms and intermediaries to ensure that unlawful content is not hosted or published through the use of AI software or algorithms and requires platform providers to identify content that is AI-generated and explicitly inform users about the fallibility of such outputs.14

Conclusion:
While technology is advancing rapidly, the legal frameworks aimed at mitigating its adverse impacts are lagging significantly. A balanced approach is necessary to address the convergence of artificial intelligence and human rights without infringing on individual rights or hindering technological progress. Given that artificial intelligence (AI) can greatly promote human rights, different stakeholders need to work together to establish regulations for AI.

Governance of AI is becoming more crucial as it has a direct impact on speech, expression, privacy, and job displacement. In addition to these concerns, other significant issues that demand careful consideration include deepfakes, diminished human interaction, misinformation, autonomous weapons, and algorithms that exhibit bias towards specific races and genders. Countries should work together with international organizations for theirs AI literacy to tackle the human rights violations caused by the use of artificial intelligence in order to develop laws that safeguard society's fundamental human rights.

End-Notes:

1. M.T. Dang, Human Rights and Law in the Age of Artificial Intelligence, 24 J. Legal Ethical & Regul. Issues S4, 1 (2021), https://www.abacademies.org/articles/human-rights-and-law-in-the-age-of-artificial-intelligence-12420.
2. Rajan Rayhan & Shahana Rayhan, AI and Human Rights: Balancing Innovation and Privacy in the Digital Age, ResearchGate (2023), https://www.researchgate.net/publication/372743882_AI_and_Human_Rights_Balancing_Innovation_and_Privacy_in_the_Digital_Age.
3. Sarah Shirazyan & Miranda Sissons, AI's Potential to Advance Human Rights? Striking the Right Balance, Just Security (2024), https://www.justsecurity.org/98097/ais-potential-to-advance-human-rights/.
4. Tanya Milberg, The Future of Learning: How AI is Revolutionizing Education 4.0, World Econ. F. (2025), https://www.weforum.org/stories/2024/04/future-learning-ai-revolutionizing-education-4-0.
5. MANU/SC/1044/2017.
6. Khushi Chopra & Surya Pratap Kasaundhan, From Constitutional Rights to Data Protection: Article 21 and Comparative Perspectives on Privacy, Manupatra (2024), https://articles.manupatra.com/article-details/From-Constitutional-Rights-to-Data-Protection-Article-21-and-Comparative-Perspectives-on-Privacy.
7. Morgan Sullivan, Examining Privacy Risks in AI Systems, Transcend (2023), https://transcend.io/blog/ai-and-privacy.
8. Universal Declaration of Human Rights, United Nations (1948), https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights.
9. Chris Vallance, Technology Reporter, BBC News (2023), https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-65102150.
10. United Nations, Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights.
11. Allie Funk, Adrian Shahbaz et al., The Repressive Power of Artificial Intelligence, Freedom House (2023), https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-net/2023/repressive-power-artificial-intelligence.
12. Sahajveer Baweja & Swapnil Singh, Beginning of Artificial Intelligence, End of Human Rights, LSE Hum. Rts. Blog (2020), https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/humanrights/2020/07/16/beginning-of-artificial-intelligence-end-of-human-rights.
13. Savio Jacob, AI Regulations Around the World: A Comprehensive Guide to Governing Artificial Intelligence, Spiceworks (2024), https://www.spiceworks.com/tech/artificial-intelligence/articles/ai-regulations-around-the-world.
14. Asia-Pacific Regulations Keep Pace with Rapid Evolution of Artificial Intelligence Technology, Sidley (2024), https://www.sidley.com/en/insights/newsupdates/2024/08/asia-pacific-regulations-keep-pace-with-rapid-evolution-of-artificial-intelligence-technology.
     

Written By: Suman Kumar, III B.A.LL.B - Institutional affiliation: DES' Shri Navalmal Firodia Law College, Pune, Maharashtra
Email: sumankr6211@gmail.com