In an op-ed published in Le Monde, a coalition of organisations including Amnesty International and LDH (Ligue des droits de l’Homme) recommends placing human rights and environmental justice at the heart of the regulation of artificial intelligence.
As AI technologies are developing rapidly, political leaders seem in no hurry to consider the human, social and environmental issues they raise. Ignoring the warnings of civil society organisations, they prefer to view them solely through the prism of growth, productivity gains, and profit.
The potential future existential risks posed by AI are a distraction: these technologies already have very concrete impacts on the most vulnerable and discriminated populations and already undermine human rights. As they are built on biased datasets and embed the skewed worldviews of their designers, AI tools perpetuate stereotypes, reinforce social inequality and limit access to resources and opportunities. Moreover, AI systems are deployed within the discriminatory and unequal structures that exist in every society. Their uses, often against a backdrop of austerity policies, deepen inequalities in access to health, employment, public services and social benefits. The scandals that have erupted in recent years are clear evidence of this: health algorithms with sexist and racist biases, an Austrian employment service algorithm refusing to direct women towards the IT sector, profiling and discrimination against welfare beneficiaries in France, Denmark and the Netherlands.
Yet technologies are rarely the solution to fundamentally systemic problems. It would be better to address the root causes of these issues rather than risk exacerbating human rights violations with AI systems. As more decisions are entrusted to algorithms, their biases can have dramatic consequences on our lives. Predictive AI systems are increasingly used in justice and law enforcement, with the risk of amplifying systemic racism. For instance, in the United States, an AI tool used to calculate recidivism risks identified Black defendants as ‘high risk’ twice as often as white defendants. But even if these biases were mitigated, focusing on predictive tools distracts us from considering broader reforms to the prison system.
These systems are also used for surveillance and identification purposes in border control or conflict settings, such as Lavender, an AI tool to target terrorists that caused the deaths of thousands of Gaza civilians. Often, these technologies are developed in the Global North, like the tools created in Europe used to surveil the Uyghur population in China.
Generative AI systems are also exploited for disinformation and destabilization purposes by repressive regimes and private actors. Bots to manipulate information on health-related issues, racist disinformation during the last European elections, and audio and video deepfakes featuring electoral candidates are just some examples of how these technologies pose threats to the rule of law. AI-generated content also endangers women and children: 96% of these deepfakes are non-consensual sexual content, widely used to harm women and produce child sexual abuse material.
Moreover, these impacts are part of a global system of exploitation. AI, particularly generative AI, is an environmental disaster. By 2027, generative AI will require as much electricity as what is consumed by countries like Argentina or the Netherlands. The carbon emissions of Big Tech increased by 30 to 50% in 2024 due to the rapid development of these technologies. And the Global South is the most affected, where a proliferation of data centres and the extraction of ore like cobalt (used in batteries, for instance) harms the health of populations, pollutes water and soil, and fuels violence and armed conflicts.
Inequalities between the Global North and South are also exacerbated by technologies used for online content moderation. Digital giants allocate more resources to the Global North, favouring certain dominant languages and cultural narratives at the expense of others. Not to mention that AI systems are predominantly trained by exploited and underpaid workers from the Global South. For example, OpenAI paid Kenyan workers less than two dollars an hour to conduct the violent and taxing job of labelling toxic content.
In light of these colossal issues, the European AI Act, presented as an instrument to protect rights and freedoms, falls short, particularly on issues of surveillance and predictive policing. Moreover, this regulation will not apply beyond the borders of the European Union, even though the threats to human rights and the environment are global, and the export of surveillance AI generates profits for European companies. While European governments call for “sovereignty” in AI, the challenges posed by these systems transcend borders. Far from being merely a technological issue, AI concerns everyone. Everyone should have the ability to shape its development—or reject it if it does not align with our vision of society. True progress lies in binding frameworks, democratic developments, and approaches centering international solidarity and the most affected communities, in order to place human rights and environmental justice at the core of AI regulation.
First signatories
Amnesty International France: Anne Savinel-Barras, president
Féministes contre le cyberharcèlement: Laure Salmona, director and co-founder
Ligue des Droits de l’Homme: Nathalie Tehio, president
Vox Public: Erika Campelo, national representative
Other signatories
Academia Cidadã: Jonni Lopes, representative for human rights and civic space
Acceptess-T: Mimi Sarun, president
Access Now: Caterina Rodelli, EU policy analyst
Action Santé Mondiale: Élise Rodriguez, advocacy director, France and EU
ActionAid: Luc De Ronne, president
AI Forensics: Katya Viadziorchyk, fundraising and advocacy manager
AlgorithmWatch: Nikolett Aszódi, public policy and advocacy manager
Alternatives Européennes: Ségolène Pruvot, executive director
Amis de la Terre France: Marie Cohuet and Laura Thieblemont, co-presidents
Amnesty International Italy: Ileana Bello, director
ARCI: Raffaella Bolini, vice president
Asociacion Cultural Baizara: Iñigo López, director
Asociația pentru Tehnologie și Internet (ApTI): Alex Ștefănescu, programmer and activist
Aspiration Tech: Raegan MacDonald, director, policy leadership
Association e-Enfance /3018: Justine Atlan, national respresentative
Association marocaine des droits humains, Aziz Rhali, president
Autres Brésils: Nawal Karroum, co-president
Avaaz: Sarah Andrew, legal and campaign director
Bangladesh Internet Governance Forum: Mohammad Abdul Haque Anu, secretary general
Bits of Freedom: Rejo Zenger, political advisor
Center for the Study of Organized Hate (CSOH): Raqib Hameed Naik, executive director
Centre for Artificial Intelligence Ethics and Governance in Africa (CAIEGA): Raymond Amumpaire, team manager
Centre for Information Technology and Development: Y. Z. Ya’u, executive director
Centre for Legal Support: Fabakary Jammeh, executive director
Chez Violette: Christèle Copin, member
CIPSI: Guido Barbera, president
Citizen D: Domen Savič, director
Collectif Changer de Cap: Didier Minot, president
Community Focus Foundation Ghana (CFF-Ghana): Richard Kasu, executive director
Community Rights in Greece: Moussa Sangaré, director
Conectas Human Rights: Julia Mello Neiva, strenghtening of the human rights movement director
Coudes à coudes: Fatima Benomar, co-president
Danes je nov dan: Maja Cimerman, director
Daraj Media: Alia Ibrahim, co-founder and director general
Data for Good: Théo Alves, co-president
Defend Democracy: Alice Stollmeyer, founder and executive director
Digital Access: Rigobert Kenmogne, executive secretary
Digital Action: Alexandra Pardal, interim executive co-director
Echap: Lila, co-founder
ECNL: Vanja Skoric, programme director
EDRi: Claire Fernandez, executive director
Equinox Initiative for Racial Justice: Sarah Chander, director and co-founder
European Civic Forum: Alexandrina Najmowicz, secretary general
European House: Miklós Barabás, director
European Network Against Racism: Oyidiya Oji, advocacy adviser
Fair Vote UK: Kyle Taylor, founder
FIDH: Eleonore Morel, director general
Foundation The London Story: Dr Ritumbra Manuvie, executive director
Fundación Datalat: Margarita Yépez Villareal, executive director
Génération Lumière: David Maenda Kithoko, president
Global Action Plan: Oliver Hayes, campaigns manager
Global Witness: Ava Lee, campaigns manager
Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR): Khalid Ibrahim, executive director
Hermes Center – Hacking for Human Rights: Davide Del Monte, director
Héro•ïnes 95: Eina, activist
Hindus for Human Rights: Ria Chakrabarty, director of public policy
Homo Digitalis: Eleftherios Chelioudakis, co-founder and executive director
HuMENA pour les droits de l’homme et l’engagement civique: Mostafa Fouad, executive director
IDPAD (Hackney): Dr Toyin Agbetu, researcher
INSM Iraq: Hayder Hamzoz, founder
IT-Pol: Jesper Lund, president
Judicial Reform Foundation: Ming-Hsu Chang, technology and human rights specialist
Kairos Action: Alli Finn, campaigns director
La Maison de l’Europe: Ursula Serafin, director
La Quadrature du net: Raquel Radaut, spokesperson
Le Mouton Numérique: Christelle Gilabert, co-president
Le Mouvement: Priscillia Ludosky, campaign director
Le Planning familial: Sarah Durocher, president
Lève les yeux: Yves Marry, co-founder and general delegate
Ligue de l’Enseignement: Martine Besson, vice president
LOVE-Storm -Together against Online Hate: Björn Kunter, founder
Media Alliance of Zimbabwe: Nigel Nyamutumbu, coordinator
Mental Health Europe: Claudia Marinetti, director
Movimento Europeo Italia: Pier Virgilio Dastoli, president
MRAP: François Sauterey, co-president
Never again: Rafal Pankowski, co-founder
New School of the Anthropocene: Dr Michael Hrebeniak, founder
One Community: Wisdom Zunguzungu Nyirenda, programmes director
Open right group: Mariano delli Santi, legal and advocacy manager
Panoptykon Foundation: Katarzyna Szymielewicz, co-founder and president
Period Think Tank: Giulia Sudano, president
Polish Women’s Strike: Marta Lempart, founder
Pollicy: Irene Mwendwa, executive director
Pour la Solidarité: Salima Chitalia, senior projects officer
Renaissance Numérique: Jean-François Lucas, general delegate
Rinascimento Green: Stephanie Brancaforte, executive director
Ritimo: Emmanuel Charles, co-president
Sciences Citoyennes: Jacques Testart, honorary president
Skyline International for Human Rights: Dima Samaro, director
Solidaires: Julie Le Mazier, national secretary
SOS homophobie: Julia Torlet, president
Speak Up: Gehad Hamdy, executive director
Syndicat des Avocats de France: Judith Krivine, president
Taiwan Association for Human Rights: Kuan-Ju Chou, deputy secretary general
Tech4Peace: Aws Al-Saadi, founder and president
The ECI campaign: Carsten Berg, director
The Greek Forum of Refugees: Yonous Muhammadi, director
The Human Rights Cities Network: Frédérique Hanotier, board member
The Institute of Public Affairs Poland: Małgorzata Koziarek, project coordinator
The Novact Institute for Nonviolence: Luca Gervasoni Vila, director
Thraets: Owilla Abiro Mercy, co-founder
Volonteurope: Piotr Sadowski, secretary general
Vrijschrift.org: Walter van Holst, secretary of the board of directors
Zambian Cyber Security Initiative Foundation: John Tshinseki, president
Other organisations supporting the statement
Nous toutes
Politiscope
Privacy Network
Rete per i Diritti Umani Digitali
SHARE Foundation
The Good Lobby