Human vs. Machine: A Framework of Responsibilities and Duties of Transnational Corporations for Respecting Human Rights in the Use of Artificial Intelligence

Emilie C. Schwarz*

The use of artificial intelligence is spreading rapidly through all types of industries, and with this expansion comes various implications for international human rights standards. This Note analyzes the current responsibilities, if any, of transnational corporations deploying artificial intelligence through products and services to avoid human rights violations, and then proposes a framework for what their responsibilities should be.

First, this Note explores the current uses of artificial intelligence in the global business setting and enumerates the human rights standards that could potentially be violated by such practices. Then, this Note argues for using several international mechanisms to be used to hold transnational corporations responsible and accountable for the harmful use of artificial intelligence.

Specifically, the World Bank should adopt policies that limit loans for development projects that plan to use products that could negatively impact human rights through their application of artificial intelligence. Further, this Note proposes expanding the use of the Global Magnitsky Act’s permission to impose asset freezes and travel bans on transnational corporations that cause or perpetrate human rights abuses through artificial intelligence, which can serve as both a deterrent and a tool for accountability. This Note also discusses the prospects of a new international treaty to regulate the corporate use of artificial intelligence. Separately, the use of voluntary, private international arbitration could settle cases outside of international judicial settings, especially given that transnational corporations may be more willing to comply with such a mechanism. Finally, this Note explores and then rejects the idea of holding the actual technology accountable, i.e., robot ethics.

* J.D. Candidate, Columbia Law School, 2020. Emilie C. Schwarz is a future lawyer with an interest in the intersection of human rights, corporate accountability, and technology. In 2017, she founded the Columbia Law School Legal Technology Association and created a pro bono research program that pairs students with public interest-oriented legal technology companies. Emilie has also committed an extensive portion of her law school career to working on and researching global human rights issues. In 2019, she won the Inaugural Justice Innovation Challenge with an app that seeks to help immigrant survivors of domestic violence.