The United Nations is calling for a moratorium on certain artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. Some technologies, for example facial recognition software, could pose a threat to human rights until appropriate "safeguards" are put in place. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, is calling for research into the impact of AI technology on human rights, such as the right to privacy or freedom of movement and expression.

Bachelet calls on states to ban certain technologies or strictly regulate their use. For example, she warns against the use of technologies for profiling and decision-making. While the positive potential of artificial intelligence is "undeniable". However, this also applies to AI's ability to enable "human rights abuses on an enormous scale without any transparency". "Concrete steps are needed now to develop human rights safeguards in the use of AI, for the benefit of us all."

In a new report, the UN warns against AI systems that make decisions based on flawed or discriminatory data sets that are then also discriminatory. "We cannot afford to fall behind in the development of AI," Bachelet said. "Or allow its use with minimal or no regulation and oversight, only to deal with the inevitable human rights consequences afterwards."