Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights in APEC: Navigating the Shortcuts, Gaps, and Traps

Artificial intelligence (AI) is an urgent policy issue with profound economic, social, and political consequences for the Asia Pacific region. This paper discusses how the recommendations of APEC Business Advisory Council’s recent report Artificial Intelligence in APEC reflect the three key challenges associated with AI. The first are shortcuts, which arise when technologies appear to be easy solutions to social problems and carry the risk of unintended consequences. The second are gaps in human rights protections because of growing asymmetries of power and new capabilities. The third is the looming possibility of traps, which arise when technical decisions or the logic of technical systems end up subverting our values. This paper agrees with the report’s claim that APEC needs to take a more assertive role in the issue area of AI technologies but additionally argues that AI needs to be adequately understood as an emerging form of governance, with all its attendant advantages and risks, not simply as an instrument of economic growth. Therefore, celebrations of AI’s economic utility in APEC must coincide with careful discussions about the technology’s potential shortcuts, gaps, and traps and the design of regulatory safeguards.