Rasleen Kour
The subject of Artificial intelligence (AI) is taking up the intellectual space in the debate in modern era on a larger perspective concerning technologies and a sustainable use of the same in the current world. Technological advancements can not be curtailed, as such. If it were the scenario then it would have meant putting unnecessary restrictions upon implementation of intellectual capacities of a human mind.
However, certain restraints can surely be put into place in regard to the understanding of the bigger notion of potential hazards of these competent mechanics on simple lives of common people in the world. These required limitations on the extreme usage of modern innovations in certain areas of people’s lives needs to be created firstly by the developers themselves and then by the governments when exigencies so demand.
It is a plausible fact that which ever device or equipment we utilise today, it is AI backed. Taking the instance from a conventional calculator to contemporary virtual assistant in state of the art technological innovations which does not require much but be fed with needed vocalised information to conclude a query of the user packed with plentiful data including various reference sources. Indeed, AI has aided in transforming the lives of millions by providing efficiency and accuracy.
However, we should also confront and make an endeavour to educate ourselves about the implications of AI within the jurisdiction of legal rights of people who are exposed to its abilities. The discussion on the subject of the impact of AI on fundamental rights of human beings is a novel matter of debate on the table, albeit with an intense prospective of their infringements. It has been fortold by various legal professional about the nexus of AI with that of the enjoyment of human rights and the relation is worth pondering upon. In the case of ‘Right to Privacy’ (Justice K.S Puttaswamy Retd. v. Union of India, 2018), the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India had upheld that the right to privacy of an individual was paramount as well as fundamental right being an intrinsic part and parcel of Article 21 of the Constitution of India. Along with this, Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) recognises the right of every human to be able to enjoy privacy in his or her life time as such right is non alienable and mandatory.
However, there remains a fair debate in the context of the usage of personal data of users of various technologies with AI as it can be compromised since a large amount of data is required by these applications for their further functioning. Moreover, online thefts which are a ramification of breach of privacy is one of the serious implications of the working of the AI.
In the context of non-discrimination among people in everyday affairs, in certain areas AI is failing the users. Article 2 of the UDHR recognises the human right of people against unjust treatment of discrimination whether on the notion of race, color, gender, language etc. However, it has been revealed by various scientific researches that AI might not be practising equity with people as it was supposed it would. It has been found that in certain applications, which functions with AI in its core, people are being discriminated on the basis of their racial identities and softwares are being fed with certain data which tend to function perfectly when it locates a particular identity in such application.
Similar finding was reached at by scientists in England in the usage of pulse oximeter where it was found that the device could function properly only on a certain type of data which could function on recognising a particular skin color of a patient. This clearly violates fundamental rights of human beings and poses challenges in the attainment of accurate as well as fair treatment.
Therefore, on one hand, there are two domains of interest, i.e., privacy and discrimination, which are and could be majorly affected by the use of AI. On the other, such areas are an important aspect for an individual’s overall development and personality.
There is no denying to the fact that today AI has become an important and an intrinsic part of our daily lives. From finding out locations and destinations to be reached, this virtual intelligence has helped in simplifying our way of life and further has saved our time and resources. In certain areas, however, vigilance needs to be exercised by every user of such technologies. Since, there is no stern regulation at place on the regulation of AI, as it is the need of the hour, and the international community as well is endeavouring to work on this matter in their respective jurisdictions, all we can do as of now is to try to understand the mind of AI and also our own fundamental rights and how they are being affected by the former and find out solutions to protect our rights and freedoms from this virtual world.
(The author is a lawyer)
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