"Citing the Significant Human Rights Risks Inherent in AI, Investors Offer Recommendations to Strengthen the EU's Proposed AI Act", 16 Feb 2023

Citing the need for ongoing human rights due diligence to regulate the development and use of artificial intelligence (AI) and mitigate against potential risks, a group of 149 investors today announced they had sent a statement recommending a series of enhancements to the proposed EU Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act).

The signatories are members of the Investor Alliance for Human Rights and its allies, and the statement was sent to the relevant officials at the European Parliament, the European Commission, and the Council of the European Union responsible for finalizing the proposed regulation. The statement outlined several additional provisions the investors say should be included in the final regulation to ensure the rights of all people will be protected and civic freedoms and democratic processes will be respected.

While the field of AI has exploded in recent years both in the number of products offered and their sophistication, there is growing anxiety on the part of legislators, civil society organizations, and members of the investment community about the human rights and civil rights harms that are emerging through its misuse, including incidents of invasions of privacy and discrimination. Investors’ intention in issuing the statement is to state their support for the regulation while also identifying several gaps and recommending areas where it might be strengthened...

The investors clearly call out the need for a robust and ongoing human rights due diligence process in alignment with the UN Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises as an important and necessary first step and complementary to the European Commission’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive to ensure policy coherence. The investors recommend that human rights impact assessments be conducted at all stages of the product and service lifecycle taking into account potential contexts for such use or misuse, and resultant unintended harms...

The investors also made recommendations regarding the enforcement of the regulation, once implemented, suggesting that an advisory board to the European Artificial Intelligence Board comprising relevant stakeholders and civil society organizations focused on AI and human rights be established...