UN rights chief warns AI can reinforce racial discrimination
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk has warned that AI could deepen systemic racism against Africans and people of African descent. His remarks highlight concerns that biassed systems can reproduce discrimination in areas such as policing, healthcare and education.
Artificial intelligence can reinforce existing racial discrimination when systems reproduce biases embedded in historical data and institutional practices, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk warned on 8 October.
Speaking at the High-Level Dialogue on Reparatory Justice for Africans and People of African Descent in Geneva, Türk cautioned that technology could deepen systemic racism if its development and use are not carefully managed. He linked AI-related bias to wider patterns of discrimination in policing, criminal justice, healthcare and education.
Türk’s remarks formed part of a broader call for reparatory justice. He stressed that reparations should extend beyond financial compensation to include formal apologies, truth-seeking, memorialisation, the restitution of cultural artefacts, education and awareness-raising. He also called for stronger anti-discrimination laws and greater participation by Africans and people of African descent in decisions affecting them.
The warning reflects concerns raised in previous UN work on AI and racial discrimination. In a 2024 report to the Human Rights Council, Ashwini K.P., the UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, examined how automated systems can reproduce and reinforce existing inequalities.
The report highlighted predictive policing tools that rely on historical arrest data. Such data can create feedback loops in which neighbourhoods already subject to greater police attention continue to be targeted. Other examples included health risk scores using race-based correction factors and educational tools that may assess racial minorities as less likely to succeed.
The Special Rapporteur called for AI regulation grounded in international human rights law, including mandatory human rights due diligence.
