Artificial intelligence and foreign affairs
AI, human rights, ethics and global governance
Summary
It explores philosophical debates on concepts such as consciousness, ethics, and human uniqueness, offering a framework for assessing the risks and benefits of AI for humanity. The evolving landscape is also giving rise to new rights, including NeuroRights, which expand upon existing human rights. Additionally, the book analyses the EU AI Act and its implications for human rights in the digital age.
This publication is a collaborative effort between university scholars and international experts, developed within the research group "EU & Ethics Governance of the Artificial Intelligence" led by the Institute of European Studies and Human Rights at the Pontifical University of Salamanca.
Excerpt
Table Of Contents
- Cover
- Title
- Copyright
- About the author
- About the book
- This eBook can be cited
- Table of Contents
- Chapter 1 Artificial Intelligence and Foreign Affairs: Reflections and General Overview on AI, Human Rights, Ethics and Global Governance (Mario Torres Jarrín and Cecilia Celeste Danesi)
- Chapter 2 The Geopolitics of Artificial Intelligence (Shaun Riordan)
- Chapter 3 Can Intelligence Be Artificial? (Jesús Manuel Conderana Cerrillo)
- Chapter 4 Algorithm and Hyper-Bureaucracy: Arresting Perverse AIs (Frederick Iguban Rey)
- Chapter 5 The Intersection between Artificial Intelligence, Businesses, and Human Rights (Serena Alonso)
- Chapter 6 Gender and Racial Bias in Neural Language Models: GPT-3 as a Case Study (Daniel H. de la Iglesia)
- Chapter 7 Neurorights and Neuro-Law: A Study of the Recent Developments in Chilean Legislation (Carlos Amunátegui Perelló and Paulina Ramos Vergara)
- Chapter 8 Thinking AI from Latin America (Tomás Balmaceda, Tobías Schleider and Karina Pedace)
- List of Contributors
Chapter 1
Artificial Intelligence and Foreign Affairs: Reflections and General Overview on AI, Human Rights, Ethics and Global Governance
Mario Torres Jarrín and Cecilia Celeste Danesi
Keywords: Artificial Intelligence, Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, Ethics, Governance, Algorithmic Bias, AI Act, International RelationsAbstract: AI is influencing the international scenario from different aspects: as a player in economies and industries, as a new element of legislation, as a tool of power, and as a product or service with inherent risks that cannot be fully controlled, among others. This article proposes to analyse the impact of AI in international relations and geopolitics with a special focus on the Ethics governance of AI. It operates as a big umbrella to govern the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The study will also address the issues related to Human Rights, algorithmic bias and AI Act.
1.1. The Starting Point
AI is shaping the way we live, think, buy, fall in love, travel, work, and nearly all the areas we can imagine. In one way or another, AI is changing our world more than we can imagine. This phenomenon is part of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Schwab, 2015, 2016) which is led by Big Tech Companies and is characterized by the fusion between physical, digital, and biological spheres, where AI plays a crucial role.
The AI is a disruptive technology fundamentally because it transforms all societies spheres of society: legal, economic, cultural, social, and environmental. The widespread adoption of AI raises ethical concerns, mainly in respect to algorithmic biases (Danesi, 2022), privacy issues and risk in security terms for governments, companies, organizations, and institutions, as well as for citizens. From an economic and social perspective, we observe a big change in the market labor there is a jobs displacement focus on the “Industry 4.0 sector” which represents the ongoing transformation of traditional manufacturing and industrial practices with the integration of digital technologies such as robotics, virtual and augmented reality, blockchain, quantum computing, nanotechnology, and 5G technologies, among others.
The Fourth Industrial Revolution represents a paradigm shift in manufacturing and industrial processes driven by digital technologies and automation. The AI plays a crucial role in the development of the metaverse (Hu et al., 2015), because thanks to AI technologies it is possible to create lifelike characters, intelligent NPCs (non-player characters) and dynamic environments. Suddenly human beings find themselves creating other parallel worlds, called “virtual worlds,” which become more immersive and interactive experiences and where there are dangers as much or greater than in the real world. The challenges in the metaverse are equal to those of AI. All these disruptive technologies require careful consideration of regulatory frameworks and ethical guidelines if we want to ensure that AI benefits society while minimizing risks.
From a foreign affairs perspective AI represents both opportunities and challenges. For example, cybersecurity threats, disinformation, misinformation and influence operations, AI-enabled espionage, autonomous weapons, AI-driven economic disruption, etc.
Cyberattacks and hybrid wars between countries are part of the current conflicts, as well as misinformation spread by companies via social media, which has led to disruptions in democratic systems. Cyberspace is not being regulated, and it is necessary to establish new ways of international relations between Nation-States and Big Tech Companies. The EU has been working for years on proposing the world’s first comprehensive plan to regulate artificial intelligence. The key question for the government is if they have the capacity (human resources and financial resources) to control all these challenges mentioned above.
The main issue for the government is Big Tech Companies, These companies possess a market capitalization above the GDP of the governments, which don’t have the technology to counter power of the Big Tech companies. If we consider the capital of the first in the “Top 10 Ranking” of the leading tech companies worldwide 2024 by market capitalization, the three first are Microsoft, Appel, and Nvidia Together they have a market capitalization of 7,771 U.S. dollars compared to Germany and France that together add 6,681 U.S. dollars (Statista, 2024). These data show the economic influence of the Big Tech Companies who navigate complex geopolitical dynamics and regulatory environments across different countries and regions, and their decision have an impact on trade negotiations or in electoral processes, facts that affect the foreign policy priorities of the countries and regional integration organizations. These Big Tech Companies are emerging as geopolitical actors in the international system (Torres Jarrín and Riordan, 2023) and decision makers on global governance affairs.
The European Union is a regional integration organization. The EU has regulated the use of the AI in 2024. With this initiative legislative initiative approved by the European Parliament the EU is the world’s first comprehensive AI law (European Parliament, 2024). At the international level, there exist other related initiative concerning AI and ethics. The EU promotes an AI ethics governance that aligns with ethical principles, human rights values, and global standards. The OECD AI Principles (Recommendation of the Council on Artificial Intelligence, 2019) was one of the first initiatives around the world within the international organization’s framework. At inter-governmental level we can find the Code of Conduct for AI Developers, approved by the G7 (Hiroshima Process International Code of Conduct for Organizations Developing Advanced AI System, 2023). The digital age needs rules and international standards; the EU AI Act can serve as a reference to promote a global regulation on digital affairs and the ethical use of the AI. The EU can use its normative power (Manners, 2002) through the international cooperation programs and diplomatic relations at bilateral, sub-regional, regional, and multilateral levels.
The integration of AI into various aspects of society poses significant challenges for human rights. While privacy rights, autonomous weapons and warfare, and algorithmic bias and discrimination are often cited as key concerns, there are additional risks to consider. These include threats to freedom of expression, surveillance, and mass monitoring, as well as implications for worker rights and access to information in the context of the digital divide.
The EU deems certain AI system as unacceptable as they include cognitive behavioral manipulation of individuals or vulnerable groups (such as voice-activated toys that promote unsafe behavior in children), social scoring systems that classify individuals based on behavior, socio- economic status, or personal traits, as well as biometric identification and categorization of people. Additionally, real-time and remote biometric identification systems, like facial recognition, are considered problematic (European Parliament, 2024).
Details
- Pages
- 146
- Publication Year
- 2025
- ISBN (PDF)
- 9783034353618
- ISBN (ePUB)
- 9783034353625
- ISBN (Hardcover)
- 9783034353397
- DOI
- 10.3726/b22429
- Language
- English
- Publication date
- 2025 (January)
- Keywords
- Artificial intelligence Foreign affairs AI ethics governance Philosophy and AI European Union Latin America EU AI Act Global governance Human rights NeuroRights Fourth Industrial Revolution Big Tech companies Disruptive technologies.
- Published
- Bruxelles, Berlin, Chennai, Lausanne, New York, Oxford, 2025. 146 pp.,
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