Declarations: The Human Rights Podcast Declarations: The Human Rights Podcast

The Deepfake detection platform Sensity came out with a report in 2019 that 96% of Deepfakes on the internet are pornographic and 90% of those represent women. Deepfakes are a modern form of synthetic media created by two competing AI’s with the goal of replicating hyper-realistic videos, images, and voices. Over the past five years this has led to major concerns of the technology being used to spread mis/disinformation, carry out fraudulent cybercrimes, tamper with human rights evidence, and most importantly in relation to this episode create non-consensual pornography. In this episode, the last of this season of the Declarations podcast, host Maryam Tanwir sat down with panellist Neema Jayasinghe and Henry Adjer who is not only responsible for the Sensity report that came out in 2019 but is also a seasoned expert on the topic of deepfakes and synthetic media. He is currently the head of policy and partnerships at Metaphysic.AI and also co-authored the report ‘Deeptrace: The State of Deepfakes’ while at Sensity. This was the first major report published to map the landscape of deepfakes and found that the overwhelming majority are used in pornography.

In this episode, host Maryam Tanwir and panelist Archit Sharma discuss the impact of technology on employment with our guests, Martin Kwan and Dee Masters. This area is a complicated web of issues, but our guests have the expertise to help us better understand the stakes. Dee is a leading employment barrister at Cloister’s Chambers with extensive experience in the intersection of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and employment. She advises many companies on how to ensure their AI systems are compatible with law and the rights of workers. Martin is a legal researcher and journalist, and the 2021 UN RAF Fellow. Hehas written many articles on topical human rights issues, including recently a fascinating article on Automation and the International Human Right to Work, which will be the first workers’ rights issue we look at in this episode.

Artificial Intelligence brings many promises, but to many it is a threat as well. As AI can increasingly perform tasks at a low cost, what happens to those whose jobs are displaced by robots? And if we are using AI in the workplace to monitor our employees, and to make recruitment decisions for us, how can we ensure workers’ rights are respected? Is there sufficient oversight and accountability when AI makes decisions? Fundamentally, where do human rights and the rights of workers fit in the equation with AI and employment?

In this week’s episode of the Declarations podcast, host Maryam Tanwir sat down with Munizae and Sulema Jahangir to discuss freedom of expression and internet shutdowns in Pakistan, and their implications for human rights in the country. Freedom of expression, attacks on civil society groups, a climate of fear continues to impede media coverage of abuses by both government security forces and militant groups. Journalists who face threats and attacks have increasingly resorted to self-censorship. Media outlets have come under pressure from authorities not to criticize government institutions or the judiciary. In several cases in 2020, government regulatory agencies blocked cable operators and television channels that had aired critical programs. International conferences raising awareness on human rights and promoting initiatives safeguarding human rights (organized by the guests) were mired by technology shutdowns. We explore with our guests the issue, the stakes, and potential solutions.

In episode 5 of this season of the Declarations podcast, host Maryam Tanwir and panelist Yasar Cohen-Shah sat down with Belkis Wille, senior researcher at Human Rights Watch, and former UN official Karl Steinacker to discuss the collection of refugee biometric data. In summer last year, Human Rights Watch reported that a database of biometric data captured by UNHCR from Rohingya refugees had been handed to Myanmar’s government – the very government from which the refugees are fleeing. This scandal has brought to head the debates surrounding using biometric data of refugees – from Yemen to Afghanistan, Somalia to Syria, biometric data is now fundamental in how aid groups interact with refugees. But how does this affect their human rights, and can it ever be used responsibly?

For Episode 4 of this season’s Declarations podcast, host Maryam Tanwir and panelist Alice Horrell sit down with Karen Schrier, Associate Professor and Founding Director of the Games and Emerging Media program at Marist college, and Florent Maurin, creator of The Pixel Hunt, a video games studio with a focus on reality inspired games, to discuss empathy games.

The third episode of this season of the Declarations Podcast delves into the topic of live facial recognition. Host Maryam Tanwir and panelist Veronica-Nicolle Hera sat down with Daragh Murray and Pete Fussey, who co-authored the “Independent Report on the London Metropolitan Police Service’s Trial of Live Facial Recognition Technology” in July 2019.

Live facial recognition (LFR) has been a widely debated topic in the past years, both in the UK as well as internationally. While several campaign organisations advocate against the use of this technology based on the Prohibition of Discrimination, independent academic research on the topic reveals important insights into various trials of this technology. Our guests are at the forefront of this research and in this episode present some of their findings.