Collaborative session notes:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1V0ZEPuxyGQ8veMfDNgHFRXhX2X_e2Kcq/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=104358842683409363823&rtpof=true&sd=true

Artificial intelligence (AI) and data visitation (DV) technologies have the potential to revolutionize ethics, human rights, and legal standards by enabling secure and comprehensive analysis of sensitive and distributed datasets. DV allows AI to perform real-time computational analysis without transferring data, preserving privacy and data sovereignty. This approach is particularly valuable in addressing ethical challenges, such as informed consent, accountability, and privacy protection. For instance, AI-powered DV can identify biases in large-scale datasets used in decision-making processes in areas such as healthcare, law enforcement, and public policy, ensuring greater transparency and fairness. Moreover, DV supports compliance with international standards like the GDPR and HIPAA, embedding human rights protections into AI applications.

This session will explore how AI and DV can be leveraged to strengthen ethical and legal frameworks while critically assessing the EOSC-Future/RDA AIDV-WG deliverables:

1. The survey to gather insights from scientists, educators, and members of ethics committees on the potential benefits and challenges regarding the use of generative AI
2. Guidance for Ethics Committees Reviewing Artificial Intelligence and Data Visitation
3. Guidance for Informed Consent in the Context of Artificial Intelligence and Data Visitation
4. AI Bill of Rights Recommendation
5. Secure Processing Environments for Open Science: Proposing Legal Foundations

By facilitating secure access to distributed data across jurisdictions and organizations, DV enables AI systems to uncover patterns and generate actionable insights without breaching privacy laws or compromising individual rights. These technologies provide a robust mechanism for auditing compliance with ethical and legal standards, such as ensuring the accountability and transparency of algorithms used in public-facing systems. Their scalability also fosters global collaboration among policymakers, ethicists, and technologists, helping to align local laws with international human rights frameworks.

Beyond technical safeguards, AI and DV technologies can shape and strengthen legal systems by providing evidence-based tools for enforcing accountability and promoting justice. DV-enabled AI can be used to investigate human rights violations and ensure compliance with legal requirements by securely analyzing distributed datasets. These technologies also empower policymakers and legal professionals to address systemic issues such as sentencing disparities and access to representation, paving the way for more equitable judicial systems. Additionally, AI and DV together can standardize ethical and human rights protections on a global scale by creating interoperable systems that respect local laws while adhering to international frameworks, such as the UN Declaration of Human Rights. By aligning with the UN’s Pact for the Future, these technologies promote collaboration, sustainability, and fairness, ensuring data-driven innovations contribute to a more just and trustworthy global society.

This session is designed to align with the achievements of the AIDV-DV by the RDA Plenary 25 at the International Data Week (IDW) being held under the overarching theme of ‘Data for positive change: Empowering communities and advancing research’. IDW 2025 offers an ideal context for discussing how AI and DV technologies can transform ethical governance, human rights protections, and legal frameworks. The session’s focus on leveraging data-driven insights to address global challenges resonates with the event’s goal of harnessing data for societal benefit and scientific innovation.

Furthermore, the session directly contributes to the ongoing efforts of RDA to facilitate global data sharing and reuse. It aligns with the RDA’s mission to lower barriers to data exchange and to develop infrastructure that promotes collaboration across disciplines and regions. Additionally, the session’s critical engagement with the EOSC-Future/RDA AIDV-WG deliverables (on ethics, informed consent, and the AI Bill of Rights) supports the broader objectives of the event by addressing the technical and ethical dimensions of data use.

In preparing for the IDW 2025, the session will connect with a diverse audience of researchers, policymakers, and industry leaders, fostering interdisciplinary collaboration and aligning with global initiatives such as open science and data accessibility. The focus on actionable strategies and innovative practices ensures that the session contributes meaningfully to the IDW agenda, advancing both the event’s objectives and the session’s goals of improving trust, accountability, and fairness in scientific and academic research through the use of AI and DV applications.

Principal objective

To explore how the use of AI and DV technologies can transform ethics, human rights, and legal standards using secure, privacy-preserving analysis of distributed datasets.

Supporting objectives

1. To examine the technical and operational challenges of integrating AI with DV technologies, focusing on solutions that enhance privacy, security, and data sovereignty in distributed analysis, while evaluating how these align with the Guidance for Ethics Committees Reviewing Artificial Intelligence and Data Visitation.
2. To explore how AI-powered DV technologies can address ethical issues such as informed consent, accountability, and bias detection in areas like healthcare, law enforcement, and public policy, with a critical review of the Guidance for Informed Consent in the Context of Artificial Intelligence and Data Visitation.
3. To examine the possibility to use AI & DV to learn about the impact of the GDPR, HIPAA, and the UN Declaration of Human Rights on the protection of data, citizen, and human rights.
4. To present case studies and best practices that demonstrate the potential of AI and DV to improve transparency, fairness, and compliance with global ethical and legal standards, while identifying gaps in the current AIDV-WG deliverables.
5. To foster interdisciplinary collaboration among policymakers, ethicists, technologists, and RDA members to align AI and DV practices with global goals such as those outlined in the UN’s Pact for the Future, while providing feedback and actionable recommendations for refining the AIDV-WG deliverables.

Meeting agenda
Time Title and Speaker(s)
00:00 Opening Remarks from the Session Chairperson
Short overview of the EOSC-Future/RDA Objectives & Deliverables
Francis P. Crawley
Co-chair, EOSC-Future/RDA Artificial Intelligence & Data Visitation Working Group (AIDV-WG)
00:15 The Munich Convention on AI, Data, and Human Rights
Questionning the use of AI to improve ethics, human rights, and legal standards
Alexander Kriebitz
Scientific Coordinator, Munich Convention on AI, Data, and Human Rights
Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich; Germany

00:30 Whose Rules Apply?
Ethics, Law, and the Infrastructure of Data Visitation
Patricia Buendia
Lifetime Omics & RA4RDA – EOSC-Future/RDA AIDV-WG

00:45 Session Forum Discussion
1. Following the presentation on the Munich Convention, how can international frameworks more effectively guide the ethical development and deployment of AI systems that impact human rights?
2. In light of INFANT’s experience using LLMs to analyze legal alignment with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, how can AI be responsibly applied to audit legal texts and policies for compliance with human rights commitments?
3. How do we critically assess the claim that AI can ‘improve’ ethics or legal standards—what does improvement mean in this context, and who decides?
4. How should we design AI systems that not only comply with but actively promote human rights, gender equity, and non-discrimination—especially in legal, healthcare, or public sector applications?
5. What accountability mechanisms are most effective when AI systems, especially those used in law, policy, and rights adjudication, produce outcomes that conflict with established human rights standards?
6. How can AI be designed and governed to enhance informed consent processes in research and public services, particularly when dealing with vulnerable populations or complex data ecosystems?
7. How can AI be used proactively to uncover and address systemic inequalities within legal systems, healthcare delivery, and access to public services?
8. How can data visitation enhance informed consent processes in AI-driven research and decision-making, especially across jurisdictions with varying legal and ethical standards?
9. What are the technical, legal, and ethical trade-offs involved in balancing data sovereignty with the need for global interoperability and open science through data visitation?
10. To what extent do the current EOSC-Future/RDA AIDV-WG deliverables reflect the practical needs of ethics committees, legal institutions, and policymakers when reviewing AI and DV systems?

This session is designed for scientists, educations, and stakeholders interested in the intersection of digital technologies with ethics, human rights, and governance. It caters to researchers working on AI and data visitation technologies who are eager to explore innovative methods and frameworks for ensuring innovative governance frameworks for science and society.

Ethics committee members and policymakers focused on data privacy and governance will find this session highly relevant as it provides actionable insights into aligning AI technologies with existing legal and ethical frameworks. Similarly, legal and human rights experts addressing challenges in digital transformation can engage with discussions on the transformative potential of AI and DV to safeguard human rights and ensure accountability.

Technology developers and innovators creating AI applications with ethics-by-design frameworks will benefit from this interactive and collaborative exploration. Additionally, the RDA community and similar collaborative networks will have an opportunity to consider new approaches to advancing global collaboration and refine governance practices. Finally, educators and academics studying the societal impacts of AI and data technologies are encouraged to join and contribute to fostering a shared understanding of trust, accountability, and transparency informed by data-driven systems.