On 18 February, ARTICLE 19 contributed to consultations at the United Nations regarding the Independent International Scientific Panel on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Global Dialogue on AI Governance.
At the consultations, ARTICLE 19 recommended four foundational principles to apply across both the Panel and the Dialogue, delivered by Anna Oosterlinck, Head of UN, ARTICLE 19.
The principles and contributions follow.
Excellencies, thank you for this opportunity to contribute to these consultations.
My name is Anna Oosterlinck and I speak on behalf of ARTICLE 19, a local to global human rights organisation, focusing on freedom of expression and related rights.
Responsible, secure, accountable, transparent, and human rights-based AI by design is our collective priority.
ARTICLE 19 recommends four foundational principles to apply across both the Panel and the Dialogue.
- Ensure a multistakeholder model of AI governance. All stakeholders, including human rights actors and communities most impacted by AI applications, must be able to meaningfully participate in decision-making.
- All human rights must be protected throughout the full lifecycle of all AI technologies. Free expression is key, as well as the right to non-discrimination and gender equality.
- Avoid duplication with existing AI governance initiatives within and beyond the UN system. AI governance requires a holistic and global approach, turning a patchwork of initiatives into a coherent approach in compliance with international law, human rights and the SDGs.
- Both the Panel and the Dialogue should be integrated into existing UN structures and leverage existing UN expertise, in particular from OHCHR, ITU and other relevant UN actors.
For the Independent International Scientific Panel on AI, ARTICLE 19 recommends:
- It is fully independent and free from political influence.
- Focus on the state of science on AI, based on research and evidence on the state of technology design, development and application, including human rights risks assessments.
- Composed of scientists from a broad range of disciplines, including human rights experts, with a balanced geographical and gender representation.
- Report to the Dialogue and other relevant AI governance processes, promoting scientific understanding of the impact of AI technologies, and enabling knowledge-based decision-making.
For the Global Dialogue on AI Governance, we recommend it offers a space to consider practical steps to leverage AI opportunities as well as address AI challenges, including adverse impacts on human rights.
Both the Panel and the Dialogue should scrutinise the concentration of resources and power in several components of the AI supply chain including computing power, data, technical expertise, and financial resources, and consider how to mitigate such power concentration so that the asymmetries in the global ecosystem are not misused by the powerful to undermine the rights of vulnerable communities.
Finally, we call for a transparent and inclusive process in the next few weeks as States discuss the modalities, including streaming the Member States consultations on UN Web TV and organising further virtual stakeholder consultations like today.
Thank you.