ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: HOW AI IS UNDERSTOOD IN THE LIGHT OF DEMOCRACY AND HUMAN RIGHTS. A comparative case study of Sweden, France and the European Commission

Abstract

In recent years, artificial intelligence has become increasingly discussed and it is predicted to have a major impact on our societies in the future, having positive effects but could potentially be negative for democracy. In this paper, I investigate how artificial intelligence will affect human rights and democracy, where I critically evaluate the framing of problems, solutions and regulatory work of three cases. Based on the previous literature in this research field, I created a theoretical framework to conduct a comparative case study between European Commission and two countries that are on the frontier of recognizing the challenges of AI, namely: Sweden and France. The results demonstrate that there are several issues that are understood as crucial but some issues are prioritized such as: privacy. There are also several differences between the three cases in terms of problems, solutions and regulation, but their approaches are somewhat similar. Sweden´s approach is investing in the transformation of the society by suggesting more research and collaboration in AI, although being positive towards regulation in some areas. France has a more regulation-heavy approach by suggesting restrictions of AI in privacy, warfare and on the labor market at some extent. The European commission focuses more on transparency in AI processes to make it more humane. The common denominator is that they all neglect the challenge of election interference and freedom of speech online since it is barely discussed, which the literature identifies as major challenges that AI will pose.