Human rights in the age of

HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE AGE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Right to education
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“
The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to education. [...] The States 
Parties to the present Covenant recognize that, with a view to achieving the full realization of this right: 
(a) Primary education shall be compulsory and available free to all; b) Secondary education in its different 
forms, including technical and vocational secondary education, shall be made generally available and 
accessible to all by every appropriate means, and in particular by the progressive introduction of free 
education; (c) Higher education shall be made equally accessible to all, on the basis of capacity, by every 
appropriate means, and in particular by the progressive introduction of free education; (d) Fundamental 
education shall be encouraged or intensified as far as possible for those persons who have not received 
or completed the whole period of their primary education; (e) The development of a system of schools at 
all levels shall be actively pursued, an adequate fellowship system shall be established, and the material 
conditions of teaching staff shall be continuously improved.” - Article 13 of ICESCR
AI can fundamentally violate the principle of equal access. Universities in the U.S. are using deterministic 
algorithmic systems to recommend applicants they should admit. These are often custom-built to meet the 
school’s preferences, and have a host of issues that can lead to discrimination, including use of historical 
data of previously admitted students to inform the model. Since many elite universities have historically been 
attended by wealthy white males, any model that uses these data risks perpetuating past trends.
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Such 
systems will likely employ ML in the future, which would make bias harder to detect. This could result in 
universities discriminating under the guise of objectivity.
Looking forward: If AI is used to track and predict student student performance in such a way that limits 
the eligibility to study certain subjects or have access to certain educational opportunities, the right to 
education will be put at risk. Given the growth of research into early childhood predictors of success, it is 
likely that such a system could be used to restrict the opportunities of students at increasingly younger 
ages, resulting in significant discrimination, with students coming from underprivileged backgrounds 
ultimately being denied opportunities because people from that background tend to have more negative 
outcomes. Such a system would ignore the students that overcome adversity to achieve academic and 
professional success, and would entrench existing educational inequalities.