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Artificial Intelligence – opportunity or threat for human rights? by Milena Adamczewska



I was born early enough to remember when we didn’t even have a computer at home. The first mobile phone my dad bought was a model you probably find now in museums. While I hope to tell this one day to my shocked grandchildren, I truly believe that it should not be used as an excuse to avoid new technologies, and in order to keep up with the changing world, I try to stay up to date with what’s going on outside the bubble of human rights in which I spend most of my time. Yet, I didn’t expect to learn how to create a chatbot during the Humanity in Action fellowship. It was a day of surprises. 

Screenshot from a conversation with the Chatbot created by one of the groups during the workshop, as a potential tool to empower teenage girls. 

If you’re wondering now why a group of human rights activists managed to learn complex coding during one workshop, the reality is far from being so impressive. Firstly, simple Messenger Bots can nowadays be created without no more than few clicks, thanks to free online software like Chatfuel or Meya. Secondly, no matter how much fun the actual clicking was, the aim of the training with representatives of Wandlee (the successful Polish bot-development company) was above all to discuss activism through new technologies. Newer than online campaigning. With the latter being now rather a norm than a dispute, the new challenge for human rights defenders is Artificial Intelligence itself. 

Not for a surprise: there are two sides to the coin. Chatbots at the same time raise numerous concerns about potential violations of social structures or human rights, and serve as innovative tools of protection and promotion of them. To use examples: Replika, a bot advertising itself as an AI friend that is always there for you, especially if you want to talk to someone who always listens, puts in question relationships between human beings. Ada, a personal health guide used by 1,5 million people worldwide, brings in the topic of medical ethics. Human Resources chatbots, used more and more often for recruitment, raise concerns around fair and equal access to employment opportunities. Lastly, all the chatbots might be challenged with regard to their accuracy with personal data protection, which seems especially relevant if they process sensitive data on health situations or even mental wellbeing. This remains a controversial issue—regardless of how many times we hear that what and with whom we share is dependent only on our free, prior and informed consent (the disclaimer you skip over in the beginning)—and will stay as such, until the consent is genuinely free and informed.


Source: http://theday.co.uk/technology/the-friendly-chatbot-that-mimics-your-voice 

On the other hand, there are bots like: Ida, encouraging people to donate or volunteer for a certain cause; DoNotPay, offering free legal assistance to asylum seekers; Ask For a Raise, empowering women to close the gender pay gap; or UNICEF’s bots for U-Report, which allow the organization to research global problems of the youth – easily, broadly and almost cost-less. These are just few examples of how Artificial Intelligence can be used either directly for a social cause, or for the benefit of an NGO, which can apply it to save resources, fundraise or attract volunteers. 



Image from Ask For a Raise (Ask Cindy Gallop) bot 


Every medicine can become a poison if used without control. I believe that the issue of bots and other AI-based technologies is not black and white, as they can both benefit and threaten human rights and other social causes. This does not mean though that we should wait to see if the coin is heads or tails. The discussion we had today with the speakers and HIA Fellows only assured me that the debate on how to guarantee that these powerful tools are used wisely is needed here and now. The legal lines must be drawn and steps taken to ensure they are not crossed. Unfortunately, law and policy makers seem to be far from keeping up with the changing world. Unless some of the future ones were sitting today in the room with me? 




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Milena Adamczewska, born in Gdańsk (Poland) is an experience-seeker with a strong need to take action. She has graduated with a law degree from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań and is about to finish LLM in International Law and Human Right at the University of Tilburg. In between, she volunteered in South Africa, worked and traveled in Australia, advocated for a just world with several NGOs and tried herself as an entrepreneur in the field of marketing. Her academic and activist interests has been mainly focused on gender equality and women's rights from legal, political and social perspective, both on the local and global level. In her free time, Milena writes - for her travel blog, for other websites and "for the drawer". She shares this way her ideas and asks questions, on the topics of culture, societies and global challenges that the world is facing nowadays.





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