Human Rights related to AI in Counterterrorism

Abstract 

Counterterrorism outside armed conflict increasingly relies on Artificial Intelligence (AI). States use AI notably for detecting, predicting, and responding to terrorism. Despite acclamations of States and regional organizations that AI needs to be used in compliance with international human rights law, there is still insufficient clarity on how human rights law guides and governs legality in the use of AI in counterterrorism. Accordingly, this chapter analyses the key human rights that are relevant to - and which help to determine the lawful use of - AI in counterterrorism. This concerns, notably, the right to privacy; the rights to liberty and security; the principle of non-discrimination; the right to freedom of expression; the right to freedom of peaceful assembly; and the rights to life and to freedom from ill-treatment. The chapter assesses how these rights concern the use of AI in counterterrorism by relating them to the functions of AI applications. This is achieved through analysis of international and national rules and jurisprudence that are directly or indirectly pertinent.