3.2 Brief overview of AI’s effect on human rights
3.2.3 How big data can help protect human rights
It is no surprise to know that human rights face threats from a multiplicity of things.
The discussion above illustrated that up until the year 2020, the effect of AI on human rights has, unfortunately, been a negative one.307 The truth is that there is nothing inherently wrong with AI and big data-reliant systems that automatically make them bona fide threats to human rights.308 Using the right approach, they could be powerful tools that can be used to protect and uphold human rights.
301TheProtection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013.
302 Section 2 (a) of TheProtection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013.
303 Section 2 of TheProtection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013.
304 Rossow 2018 https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewrossow/2018/05/25/the-birth-of-gdpr-what-is- it-and-what-you-need-to-know/#5f111e5355e5.
305 Rossow 2018 https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewrossow/2018/05/25/the-birth-of-gdpr-what-is- it-and-what-you-need-to-know/#5f111e5355e5.
306 Rossow 2018 https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewrossow/2018/05/25/the-birth-of-gdpr-what-is- it-and-what-you-need-to-know/#5f111e5355e5.
307 Raso et al Artificial Intelligence & Human Rights: Opportunities & Risks 4.
308 Alston 2018
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Manyika et al,309 as cited in Can Big Data Revolutionize Human Rights Law,310 is of the view that given the power of big data, it is an underutilised tool in the fight against the abuse of human rights.311 In his paper Sarfaty, he states the following:
Analytic tools can be used to filter large amounts of data to identify signals of potential threats and thereby predict violations such as mass atrocities.312
As a result of machine learning, AI systems, after having been fed sufficient data, can make predictions with a high degree of accuracy.313 According to Sarfaty, this ability, coupled with the fact that big data-reliant firms and organisations have the ability to easily and cheaply acquire data314, should be able to allow AI systems to predict human rights violations.315
Sarfaty also makes it clear in his article that allowing AI systems to play an active role in the protection of human rights might result in the owners of the AI systems (which are mostly privately businesses) having significantly more power and authority than they already do.316 He also makes it clear that by using big data systems to protect human rights, most notably the right to privacy, they will be negatively impacted in the process.317 Therefore, in his opinion, the use of big data systems towards the protection of human rights will not happen without a trade- off.318
However, it should be possible to use big data systems to help promote human rights without the occurrence of trade-offs. An example of big data systems being used to promote human rights without trade-off is in the field of health care.319 In a study conducted by McKinsey Global Institute and McKinsey’s Business Technology Office, results showed that by effectively using big data systems, the United States
309 Manyika et al Big data: the next frontier for innovation, competition and productivity 1.
310 Sarfaty UPJIL 82.
311 Sarfaty UPJIL 82.
312 Sarfaty UPJIL 83.
313 Agrawal, Gans and Goldfarb Prediction Machines: The Simple Economics of Artificial Intelligence 1- 5.
314 Agrawal, Gans and Goldfarb Prediction Machines: The Simple Economics of Artificial Intelligence 43-51.
315 Sarfaty UPJIL 83.
316 Sarfaty UPJIL 88.
317 Sarfaty UPJIL 88.
318 Sarfaty UPJIL 88.
319 Manyika et al Big data: The next frontier for innovation, competition, and productivity 2.
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health system could massively improve its efficiency and also improve the quality of health care provided to the people.320
The study conducted by McKinsey Global Institute and McKinsey’s Business Technology Office highlighted the fact that for big data to be able to help advance health care, it must be used effectively and efficiently.321 The study does not define what is meant by the effective and efficient use of big data, however, it can be inferred that it means that big data should be used in such a way that it does not infringe on people’s human rights.
Therefore, in the context of the study mentioned above, the effective and efficient use of big data systems would mean that they do not infringe on two fundamental human rights.322 The first one is the right to equality, which makes it clear that no human being should be unfairly discriminated against and that all people are born equal.323 The second one is the right to privacy, which makes it clear that no human being should have their privacy breached without warrant.324
As rightly pointed out in the study conducted by McKinsey Global Institute and McKinsey’s Business Technology Office, the effective and efficient use of big data systems can yield enormously positive results.325 Often, when it comes to human rights, the focus is mainly on the promotion and protection thereof.326 Perhaps, when it comes to upholding human rights, the primary focus should be in the prevention of abuse and infringement of human rights and secondly, on the promotion and protection thereof.327
There may be a small difference from a technical standpoint between preventing human rights violations and protecting them. Additionally, the case may be made
320 Manyika et al Big data: The next frontier for innovation, competition, and productivity 2.
321 Manyika et al Big data: The next frontier for innovation, competition, and productivity 2.
322 Manyika et al Big data: The next frontier for innovation, competition, and productivity 52.
323 A 7 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948).
324 A 12 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948).
325 Manyika et al Big data: The next frontier for innovation, competition, and productivity 2.
326 Sarfaty UPJIL 76; See Ramcharan Preventive Human Rights Strategies; Sicilianos The Prevention of Human Rights Violations (International Studies in Human Rights).
327 Sarfaty UPJIL 76.
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that protection of human rights leads to the prevention of their violation.328 However, Sarfaty makes the case that prevention should be the main objective.329 Where AI systems and big data can help in this regard is through the ability of AI systems to use and sort through large volumes of data to arrive at accurate predictions regarding particular issues.330 It is this predictive ability, together with the ability to assimilate information from a wide range of sources, including but not limited to, sensors and social media applications that could help in detecting patterns that could lead to human rights violations.331 This could be a major breakthrough in the fight to protect and uphold human rights.
Sarfaty points out the following regarding potential infringement, mostly on the right to privacy,332 that AI and big data systems might have on human rights:
While some may argue that such violations are a necessary trade-off in exchange for the prevention of gross human rights abuses, such as slavery or human trafficking, a balance must be struck.333
There cannot be a trade-off because that would suggest that some human rights are more important than others, which might undermine the credibility of the UDHR.
Part of the solution to this issue lies in educating people about how the processing and use of their data could help prevent human rights violations.334 Since regulations like the GDPR regulate and protect the use and processing of people’s personal digital data335, people should be given the option as to whether or not they want to have their data collected and assimilated to the end of preventing human rights violations.
328 Sarfaty UPJIL 76.
329 Sarfaty UPJIL 76.
330 Agrawal, Gans and Goldfarb Prediction Machines: The Simple Economics of Artificial Intelligence 5- 1.
331 Sarfaty UPJIL 77.
332 A 12 of the Declaration of Human Rights (1948).
333 Sarfaty UPJIL 89.
334 Manyika et al Big data: The next frontier for innovation, competition, and productivity 13.
335 A 1 of the General Data Protection Regulation (2016).
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