The Joint Committee on Human Rights has launched an inquiry to examine how human rights can be protected in the age of artificial intelligence. 

According to the Committee’s website, the inquiry will examine the threats and opportunities posed by AI in relation to human rights in the UK, as well as “whether existing legal and regulatory frameworks are sufficient to protect human rights and keep pace with AI development”. However, topics such as social media, misinformation, and harmful algorithms are outside the scope of the inquiry. 

A Call for Evidence has been launched, inviting written submission on questions such as how AI can affect individual human rights in the areas of privacy, discrimination, and bias, and who should be held accountable for breaches of human rights resulting from the use of AI.   

A lot of focus is also on the adequacy (or otherwise) of existing legislation and regulation in this area, as the Call for Evidence asks whether the AI Opportunities Action Plan is sufficiently robust in safeguarding human rights, how regulation can keep up with the rapid pace of technological developments, and whether future legislation is necessary in the UK in order to protect human rights.   

Finally, the inquiry asks what the UK can learn from experiences abroad, not only in relation to “the international nature of AI”, but also, for example, what lessons can be drawn from regulatory steps taken in the EU and from the Council of Europe Framework Convention on Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law. 

The deadline for submissions is 5 September 2025, and more information about the inquiry can be found here.