Toward a More Equal World: The Human Rights Approach to Extending the Benefits of Artificial Intelligence

We are all aware of the huge potential for artificial intelligence (AI) to bring massive benefits to under-served populations, advancing equal access to public services such as health, education, social assistance, or public transportation, for example. We are equally aware that AI can drive inequality, concentrating wealth, resources, and decision-making power in the hands of a few countries, companies, or citizens. Artificial intelligence for equity (AI4Eq) 1 as presented in this magazine, calls upon academics, AI developers, civil society, and government policy-makers to work collaboratively toward a technological transformation that increases the benefits to society, reduces inequality, and aims to leave no one behind. A call for equity rests on the human rights principle of equality and nondiscrimination. AI design, development, and deployment (AI-DDD) can and should be harnessed to reduce inequality and increase the share of the world's population that is able to live in dignity and fully realize their human potential. This commentary argues, first, that far preferable to an ethics framework, adopting a human rights framework for AI-DDD offers the potential for a robust and enforceable set of guidelines for the pursuit of AI4Eq. Second, the commentary introduces the work of IEEE in proposing practical recommendations for AI4Eq, so that people living in high-income countries (HICs), low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), alike, share AI applications' widespread benefit to humanity.