Artificial Intelligence, Uyghur Muslims, and Sex Dolls: the haunting future of human rights.

Shayla Madha | December 13, 2021

Introduction

Most children are terrified of horror movies and lose sleep over the fear of monsters and the paranormal. However, the movie that haunted me as a child was not The Exorcist or Poltergeist. It was a movie directed by Steven Spielberg called A.I. Artificial Intelligence. The film tells the story of a robotic boy who is programmed to love his human family but then finds himself abandoned and embarks on a journey to find his place in the world. As a child my mind could not wrap around how this little robot boy could experience human emotion. However, my biggest question was why was this boy even created in the first place? While my elementary school peers were busy being creeped out by ghosts, the creepy artificial child, David, haunted me. 

The scariest part: this movie is no longer science fiction. It reminds me of a story of a couple in Korea that were so obsessed with taking care of their internet AI baby that they forgot to nurture their human child. As a result their real child died and they were both arrested. The age of artificial intelligence is upon us. 

The relationship and coexistence of humans and technology has always fascinated me. As someone who has studied data science and technology along with human rights for the past semester at the University of California, Berkeley I find myself connecting my studies to formulate a question I cannot stop asking myself: With advanced technology like artificial intelligence that is drastically improving everyday, what does the future of human rights look like? My clear and undoubtful answer is that artificial intelligence is a threat to humanity. Artificial intelligence, or AI, easily becomes a weapon in the wrong hands. Corrupt governments and law enforcement use AI for invasive surveillance and eventually warfare. The implementation of artificial intelligence also changes the way human rights are defined. If it was not bad enough, in addition to all this AI can alter human intimacy in a way that can become very harmful to women.

AI Weaponized

I love my Amazon Alexa and how my maps app tells me the quickest way to get to my destination. And I could never spell ‘necessary’ without my beloved autocorrect. However, although we love our modern AI powered technology, we cannot blindly trust AI just because it makes our lives more convenient. Technology this advanced can become a serious threat to humans if intended to do so. Now you may be wondering: who would intend to threaten people with the power of AI? Corrupt government agencies and authorities want to use AI to keep a tight surveillance on people. A prime example of this is in China where digital authoritarianism has already begun. In about eighty cities China has launched AI powered video surveillance systems to track citizens every move. The ‘social governance’ enforced by this high-tech system monitors people for incidents as trivial as using too much toilet paper in a public restroom. But how is this ‘tp’ trouble related to human rights? Currently China is committing a major human rights violation and using AI video surveillance to help. The Uyghur Muslims are an ethnic group in China that are being forcibly detained in order to erase the Uyghurs Islamic identity and culture. Human rights groups claim that China is keeping the Uyghurs in prison-equse ‘re-education’ camps where they are tortured, sterilized, used for forced labor, and only given pork products to eat which goes against the religious teaching of Islam. As a muslim woman, this enrages me to my core. I am in disbelief that no serious action has been taken to help save these innocent people. The worst part: China is planning on using AI to fuel the genocide. The same video surveillance systems monitoring peoples’ potty practices are also being used to hunt Uyghur Muslims. The technology incorporates facial recognition software to identify Uyghurs and alert Chinese authorities with a “Uyghur Alarm”. Activists believe that one million of the twelve million Uyghurs in China are currently being held in ‘re-education camps’, but facial recognition surveillance could rapidly increase that amount putting millions in danger at the hands of artificial intelligence. 

Before you judge China so harshly I must inform you we are not innocent either here in the great United States of America. Similar to how Chinese authorities are using invasive surveillance, the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, also known as ICE, is using artificial intelligence to their advantage. The agency just made deals with two software companies, Clearview AI and Trust Stamp, to purchase nearly four million dollars worth of AI facial recognition technology. Instead of video surveillance like in China, this facial recognition software scans billions of photographs posted on social media and stored in public records and flags people for investigation. ICE is planning on using this new AI-powered technology to skyrocket deportations which is a serious threat to undocumented inhabitants of the United States. This is because the way ICE practices the deportation process is riddled with malice and harm. Families are torn apart. People are sent back to countries they have not seen in decades. Children born in the US must either be separated from their families or move to a country they have never been to, sometimes placing them in immediate danger. A man in Maryland who had been living in the United States for decades was taken from his children and placed in ICE custody. ICE found this man through software that flagged him for investigation after scanning the information he gave to the Maryland Department of Motor Vehicles. It is safe to say ICE does not have the best track record when it comes to human rights and AI will only fuel this fire. Artificial intelligence will open the doors to an authoritarian regime where people are too afraid to show their face or simply go to the DMV.

Defining Human Rights

Apart from being weaponized, artificial intelligence also changes the way we view human rights. What are human rights? The set of rights specifically given to a human? Well, what is a human? You would think the answer is simple, however, artificial intelligence is changing the game for species integrity. In a world where we can produce human skin, 3D print human organs, and reverse engineer the human brain, could we make a human? Or would this creation be an entirely separate species? And would this ‘human’ have human rights? Let me propose another scenario: a human replaces their organs with new and improved 3D printed organs. Or perhaps they replace their skin or even brain with an artificially generated one. At what point is a human more AI than human? Now we must consider if there is a ‘degree of humanness’ when we define human rights. We also must decide if AI, having the rationality and autonomy of a human, should be given the right to self-determination defined as the right to “freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development” as stated in Article 3 of the UNDRIP. The fusion of humans and machines is upon us and we must ask ourselves these aforementioned questions so we are prepared when humans evolve. This evolution may threaten human rights. In order to adapt to the changing biotech world and make room for AI in human rights, declarations and treaties defining human rights may need to be rewritten. As we have learned in lecture, when human rights laws are rewritten they usually lose integrity. We may find ourselves with new definitions of human rights, and we may not like them.

Before all hope is lost, let me offer a counter argument to show the ‘bright-side’ of AI related to human rights. Artificial intelligence has changed how we measure human rights. By ‘measure human rights’ I mean using data to measure human rights violations. Before, analysts would use surveys and events-based data to measure human rights but now with the use of AI analysts can make statistical inferences on complex data sets with ease. The Human Rights Data Analysis Group has successfully used AI to track war casualties, locate bodies, and even sort through masses of text messages to find human rights abusers in Mexico. It is somewhat relieving to see AI software being used to protect human rights but unfortunately that is often not the case. And in some cases AI can get a little weird.

Sex Dolls

Yes, sex dolls. They look, feel, smell, and sound like a real woman. The only difference: they are objects. This objectification can become very dangerous for real women. Sex dolls, like Harmony created by Matt McMullen at Abyss Creations in California, were made for men. Real women are not. The problem with sex bots is that they are not made to replicate sex, they are made to replace it. The real breathing woman is faulty in having her own desires and free-will. Harmony is programmed to always say yes. Men who partake in this AI powered erotica will become accustomed to having sex with something rather than someone and will forget how to respect a sexual partner. Even more terrifying then sex dolls being programmed to say yes, they can be programmed to say no. A user can simulate an experience where the sex bot is resisting sexual advances or even calling for help. The fact that any computer engineer would code this scenario means someone thought it was acceptable for a man to receive pleasure through non-consensual sex. But it gets even worse. Some of these sex dolls are created in the image of children. As disturbing as it is there are people who are interested in having sexual intercourse with something that resembles a human child. This is opening the door to a world where rapists and pedophiles are socially acceptable. And we cannot accept it! Thankfully the United States Congress passed the Curbing Realistic Exploitative Electronic Pedophilic Robots, appropriately named CREEPER, Act in 2017 to prohibit the use or import of child sex dolls. Although there is comfort in knowing it is a federal crime in America, the fact that there is a market for child sex dolls in our world at all is a threat to children everywhere.

Sexual violence is a human rights issue! Victims of sexual violence often experience long term effects including medical and psychological problems. As well as individual survirvors, sexual violence can alter communities and whole societies if not taken care of. An example of this is in the Democratic Republic of Congo where sexual abuse victims are stigmatized. When a women is sexually assaulted her identity is erased and she then on is referred to as femme violé meaning ‘raped woman’. Their communities perceive these women as having no value or place in society. They are deeply disrespected and treated like ‘dogs’ in their communities. Sexual assault is connected to a woman like a negative attribute that sticks with them for life. This only encourages women to keep their sexual assault secret or else they must live a life of shame. When societies start accepting sexual violence rather than stopping it women are placed in dangerous situations. Sex dolls are leading the way in accepting sexual violence perpetrators.

Sex dolls must be eradicated entirely. The idea of using AI to fufill sexual desires is interesting nonetheless but some people’s sexual desires are quite literally a crime. Technology cannot cater to rapists and pedophiles because there is no place for such people in our society. If we let sexual violence perpetrators believe their behavior is acceptable now with AI, this ultimately will turn into harm for real women. Humans should not be having sex with something that shares more parts with a microwave than an actual human.

Conclusion

Artificial intelligence is fantastic in many ways. Engineers have created technology that makes our lives so much easier. However, artificial intelligence is a powerful mechanism that can ultimately alter humanity. AI is changing what it means to be human with the production of human autonomy and AI powered brains. People must consider if there is a degree of humanness necessary for human rights and what degree that is. In the hands of government, AI surveillance is being used to monitor citizens and target minorities such as China’s AI powered genocide of Uyghur Muslims. AI may also cause a rise of sexual violence as it allows assaulters to fufill their sexual desires with sex dolls. As men become accustomed to having sex with objects void of free will they could leave respect out of their sexual practices which could mean violence for real women. Artificial intelligence is a threat to humanity and it must be regulated or else it will be used in harmful manners. The scientists and engineers behind AI technology, including my future self, must be aware of who advanced technology is shared with so it does not fall into the wrong hands. We all have a moral obligation as humans to protect human rights everywhere. We can start by electing officials who support regulating the use of AI to a degree. Of course AI is still essential in many aspects but it must be controlled before we live in a world like that depicted by Steven Spielberg where AI children wander the globe looking for their place where there is not one.

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