Speaker of the Shura Council H E Hassan bin Abdullah Al Ghanim with Their Excellencies Ministers and officials during the opening of the conference. Pic: Rajan Vadakkemuriyil /The Peninsula
Doha, Qatar: Policymakers and technology experts are urging the development of strong legal frameworks to safeguard the safety, transparency, and accountability of artificial intelligence (AI) systems.
They also stress the importance of bridging the digital divide and establishing an inclusive digital infrastructure to ensure that the benefits of AI are accessible to all segments of society.
This came during an International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights: “Opportunities, Risks, and Visions for a Better Future,” which opened in Doha yesterday.
The two-day event is being organised by the National Human Rights Committee (NHRC) in cooperation with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and other local and international organisations.
The opening ceremony was attended by Speaker of the Shura Council H E Hassan bin Abdullah Al Ghanim, Minister of Social Development and Family H E Buthaina bint Ali Al Jabr Al Nuaimi, Minister of Labour H E Dr. Ali bin Smaikh Al Marri, Minister of Communications and Information Technology H E Mohammed bin Ali bin Mohammed Al Mannai, and Minister of Education and Higher Education H E Lolwah bint Rashid Al Khater.
Chairperson of the National Human Rights Committee H E Maryam bint Abdullah Al-Attiyah speaking during the event.
Addressing the event, the Minister of Communications and Information Technology, said: “Our world is witnessing a pivotal moment in the relationship between humans and technology. Artificial intelligence is no longer merely a technical innovation used to improve services or enhance efficiency—it has become a driving force that is reshaping the contours of our lives and influencing decisions that touch the very core of human dignity.”
The Minister continued: “The growing reliance on AI technologies—such as predictive algorithms, machine learning models, and systems that make automated decisions—poses challenges that go beyond the technical domain. We are now facing a new reality where machines make decisions once reserved for humans—decisions related to employment, service delivery, assessing needs, and setting priorities. In this context, it is crucial to establish regulatory frameworks that ensure human interests remain the top priority.”
Al Mannai also pointed to the launch of the “Principles and Guidelines for the Ethical Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence”, which serves as a comprehensive national reference to promote responsible development and safe use of AI.
These principles address key areas such as enhancing transparency, ensuring fairness and non-discrimination, protecting privacy, and ensuring accountability. They are designed to guide users, institutions, developers, and decision-makers alike.
He said: “Our commitment to ethics and responsibility cannot be complete without achieving digital inclusion. A digital system cannot be considered fair if it excludes those with less access. For this reason, the Ministry launched the ‘Digital Inclusiveness Index in the State of Qatar’ after extensive research, to measure how well all segments of society benefit from digital resources. We focused especially on closing the digital divide and supporting those most in need of such services, including the elderly, people with disabilities, and low-income workers. This index is not limited to Qatar—it can also be applied in other countries.” Al Mannai stressed that the future of artificial intelligence can only be truly successful if it is fundamentally human-centric, and that is precisely what is being worked toward in cooperation with partners around the world.
Chairperson of the National Human Rights Committee H E Maryam bint Abdullah Al-Attiyah, said: “The choice of this conference’s theme reflects the critical importance of artificial intelligence and the need for a deep understanding of its current realities and future implications.
She said that it recognises AI’s growing impact on the actual enjoyment of human rights by offering vast opportunities to enhance a wide range of rights—most notably the rights to health, education, access to information, freedom of expression, personal security, and others.” Al-Attiyah added: “At the same time, the unethical use of artificial intelligence raises numerous concerns, including the exacerbation of bias and discrimination, deepening of the digital divide, violation of the right to privacy, increased unemployment due to job losses, and serious risks posed by certain systems that may directly threaten the right to life. Therefore, there is an urgent need to adopt a human rights-based approach across all AI systems to ensure transparency, oversight, evaluation, accountability, and access to remedies in cases of human rights violations resulting from the use of AI.” She stressed that the conference aligns with NHRC’s core mission of ensuring that human rights are integrated into all measures related to emerging technologies, particularly artificial intelligence.
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights H E Volker Türk emphasised that while artificial intelligence holds promising potential in areas such as healthcare, development, and education, it also poses growing risks to human rights and fundamental freedoms.
Among the most pressing concerns are mass surveillance, misinformation and disinformation, deepfakes, discrimination and bias, control over information, socioeconomic impacts, and the significant environmental footprint due to the energy and resource consumption required to operate AI systems and train models.
Türk outlined four key recommendations: the urgent need to develop strong legal frameworks that ensure the safety, transparency, and accountability of AI systems; the importance of bridging the digital divide and providing comprehensive digital infrastructure; the necessity of involving all segments of society—not just governments and corporations—in AI governance; and the imperative that artificial intelligence be used in ways that uphold and promote universal human rights values.
