Happy belated human rights day to all those who celebrate!
I missed this due to the general chaos of the last few months, but the Data Use and Access Bill proposes removing the right not to be subject to automated or AI-made decisions. Wow. Under certain circumstances, but take a look for yourself. So yeah, wow. Over the last while we’ve included a number of stories her where algorithmic decisions (particularly in a social welfare context) have had a devastating impact on people. Oh, there’s a story from this week about that? It’s hard to believe that these problems have been overcome (impossible to believe, you might say) so this proposal is really troubling. Open Rights Group have written a letter.
In this week’s naughty facial recognition related corner The Guardian have a story on the unlawful retention of custody images (which are used as the reference database for facial recognition searches). Unlawful why, you say? Well, the issue is that all custody images are retained, rather than only those of persons convicted of an offence., thereby giving rise to what the European Court of Human Rights called a ‘risk of sitigmatisation’ (essentially people who have come into some form of contact with the police are treated differently – in this case as ‘suspect’ – compared to the population at large). This is a really longstanding issue, so it is interesting to see it resurface. The Home Office view, from 2017, is here. Tl;dr ‘we shouldn’t be keeping them, but deleting would be soooo difficult, and they’re very handy’. ;P
A warm welcome, and thank you, to Ameneh Dehshiri who will be working on reinvigorating the newsletter over the next while.
I’ll leave ye this week with ‘Faithless‘ by Tod Rasmussen. Bit of a disco banger for a Friday.
Have a lovely weekend.
Websites
Foreign Affairs, AI Weapons and the Dangerous Illusion of Human Control
The Guardian, Police unlawfully storing images of innocent people for facial recognition
The New York Times, Could Facial Recognition Help Find Man Sought in United Healthcare CEO’s Killing? (maybe, or it could be some lad in McDonalds)
WIRED, A New Benchmark for the Risks of AI (intriguing, if perhaps on further reading, inadequate of itself)
The Register, Fission impossible? Meta wants up to 4GW of American atomic power for AI (may or may not have been included for the headline)
Kaspersky, predictions about consumer cyberthreats and privacy in 2025
The Washington Post, OpenAI partners with weapons start-up Anduril on military AI (*not a weapon)
The Guardian, Revealed: bias found in AI system used to detect UK benefits fraud | Universal credit | The Guardian
Financial Times, Lawyers navigate novel AI legal battles
The Washington Post, AI friendships claim to cure loneliness. Some are ending in suicide.
WIRED, More Humanitarian Organizations Will Harness AI’s Potential
FurtherAfrica, AI and Privacy to redefine Cybersecurity in 2025
Microsoft, Click to Do: do more with what’s on your screen
Communication today, Samsung launches One Ul 7 Beta with Al and privacy upgrades in India
Forbes, Marketing In The Age Of AI: Are You Ready?
Forbes, 2025 Tech Predictions: AI Maturity And Cybersecurity Evolution
Forbes, Can We Harness AI To Fulfill The Promise Of Universal Human Rights?
TechCrunch, Google says its new AI models can identify emotions — and that has experts worried
JD Supra, A Very Merry NISTmas: 2024 Updates to the Cybersecurity and AI Framework
EDRi, New European Commission confirmed: our takeaways on what to expect
EDRi, EU’s twin transition in crisis: green extractivism, militarisation and civil society’s role
Business & Human Rights, Internal Google documents reveal early human rights concerns over controversial Project Nimbus contract with Israel
Open RIghts Group, Letter to Peter Kyle: Keep our right not to be subjected to decisions based solely on AI
The New York Times, Why Wouldn’t ChatGPT Say This Dead Professor’s Name?
The Conversation, AI was supposed to make the UK benefits system more efficient. Instead it’s brought bias and hunger.
The Atlantic, The Celebrity Machine Never Dies
AdAge, IAB Tech Lab’s 2025 digital ad predictions—AI and privacy-enhancing tech take center stage
The Guardian, ‘It’s beyond human scale’: AFP defends use of artificial intelligence to search seized phones and emails
Access Now, Digital surveillance at Europe’s borders
AI and Human Rights Policy News
Open Canada, The first international treaty on AI governance –a basis for convergence or dissention? – Open Canada
The Council of Europe, HUDERIA: New Tool to Assess AI’s Impact on Human Rights
The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC), Facial recognition technology: a guide to assessing the privacy risks
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), CFPB Orders Federal Supervision of Google Following Contested Designation
European commission, Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, New liability rules for victims to seek compensation for damages caused by defective products online and offline,
Blogs
Law Office of Erin Bradley McAlee, AI Surveillance and Your Privacy Rights: What’s Changing in 2024?
Tech Policy Press, Against the Corporate Capture of Human Connection
The Tech Bubble, The phony comforts of useful idiots
Barry Sookman, Exploring the Challenges of AI Regulation
Video:
The Washington Post, Sankar on AI’s military capabilities and use cases
How Our AI Works: A 60-second animation explaining AI’s role in job applications.
University Application: A 26-second live-action video on AI’s use in university admissions.
AI Didn’t Pick Me: A 52-second, meme-inspired video about AI-based job assessments.
Data Retention: A 63-second animation covering AI and data retention policies.
Reports
ICO, Responses to Consultation on Generative AI
Academic Literature
*Disclaimer: The following have not been evaluated for their methodology and do not necessarily reflect the views of the AI & Human Rights Blog
Privacy Implications of AI-Enabled Predictive Analytics in Clinical Diagnostics, and How to Mitigate ThemCall for Papers: Special Issue on “AI, Business, and Human Rights, Business and Human Rights Journal, 11 Nov 2024 to 10 Feb 2025