NLSIU launches free course in AI and human rights

The debates on Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the context of human rights are increasingly steered by privacy protection themes, including behavioural profiling, discriminatory applications, and inadequate regulatory safeguards.

The National Law School of India University (NLSIU) has announced an online and hybrid certificate course in AI and Human Rights, to facilitate a greater understanding of the challenges the AI age poses to human rights in India. The course, offered with support from the German Consulate, Bengaluru, will be conducted between December 2022 and January 2023.

During the course, offered free of cost, participants will be provided with an understanding of the interactions and conflicts between AI and human rights in the country and tools to resolve tensions between the two.

“In discussions around AI policy in India, the focus has been mostly on the adoption-related challenges, rather than broader societal and ethical concerns of AI. Even the limited discussions on these concerns are often framed as a trade-off between human rights and advancement of technology,” Srijoni Sen, one of the NLSIU faculty members anchoring the course, told DH.

She said global values with regard to human rights are going to be questioned in new ways because of increasing AI adoption and it is important to examine the impact of this disruption within India’s social, cultural, economic and legal contexts.

The course will open with a two-week introductory module of online classes, on December 3. The second module will be based on the evolution of conflicts between AI and human rights in India, and possible resolution approaches. In the third module, participants will be required to attend an in-person workshop – on January 7 and 8, 2023 – on the NLSIU campus in Bengaluru.

The participants will be shortlisted from applicants who register themselves on aiandhr.nls.ac.in.

The course will bring together a diverse set of professionals, from across the tech sector (from both startups and larger corporations), healthcare and medical professionals as well as doctoral researchers and early career academics working on AI from different perspectives, Sen said.

The NLSIU will host a discussion on AI and Human Rights: Building a Rights-based Perspective at the Bangalore International Centre, on November 30. Prof Anupam Chander, Scott K. Ginsburg Professor of Law and Technology at Georgetown University Law Centre, will be the keynote speaker at the event, which is open to the public. The panel discussion will be moderated by NLSIU vice-chancellor Prof Sudhir Krishnaswamy.