RETHINKING HUMAN RIGHTS PROTECTION IN THE AGE OF AI: FROM EX-POST REMEDIES TO RIGHTS-BY-DESIGN
RETHINKING HUMAN RIGHTS PROTECTION IN THE AGE OF AI: FROM EX-POST REMEDIES TO RIGHTS-BY-DESIGN

Summary/Abstract: As artificial intelligence rapidly becomes a mediating but often invisible factor in decision-making across many areas that are central to the realisation of human rights, ranging from social welfare to the judiciary, legal protection still predominantly operates through an ex-post logic, reacting only after harm has occurred. This article identifies the functional defects of that model in contemporary algorithmic systems, where decision-making opacity, automation, and fragmented responsibility complicate the identification of the responsible actor, proof of causation, and the effective contestation of outcomes, while simultaneously enabling diffuse and systemic harms, particularly through discrimination and the intensification of surveillance. Through the lens of the European normative framework, and especially the EU Artificial Intelligence Act, the paper examines the emerging shift towards preventive risk governance and conceptualises “rights-by-design” as a necessary architectural evolution of human rights protection in algorithmic environments. The author warns that this approach must remain tied to measurable protective outcomes and effective accountability mechanisms. Otherwise, it risks collapsing into technocratic formalism and bureaucratic simulations of compliance.

• Details
• Contents