We live in fast and slow times at the same time, with a great deal changing at breakneck speed even when things seem to be at a standstill. At present, digitalisation is advancing much faster than general technical development.

 

Digitalisation makes many things easier, for example shopping, and also holds opportunities for development. But surely each of us has also come up against the limits of automated customer service and quickly wished for a human to answer the phone. Some things still don't run smoothly in the digital and automated world. When it comes to a telephone contract, it's annoying; when a harmless farmer somewhere in the world is targeted by an autonomous combat drone because of a name match or a high biometric match to a supposed terrorist, it's deadly.

 

Much has been written about this problem, but the concept of human rights provides a good answer: only humans have rights. Machines and programmes do not. And since algorithms are neither human nor error-free nor universally applicable, there should always be human supervisors and contact persons in all evaluation and decision-making processes. Otherwise, for example, a company can get a bad rating because fraudsters have misused its good name.A human can quickly get to the bottom of such fraudsters with a few interviews. A criminal trial with a laptop or robot as judge would probably make little sense even if all the defendants and witnesses were machines themselves.

 

The programmes should serve the people and never the other way around. After all, if humans behave like robots, they may be replaced by robots, and without exception, as there may soon be no more blind spots in the digital world.

 

Let's move on to something more encouraging: China, with its third way, reform and opening-up policy, has brought an indescribable number of people out of poverty and the entire nation to the top of the world economy. China sees the right to development and the right to exist as human rights.

 

And even at present in globally difficult times, China has managed quite well, for example, to provide people with a secure supply of energy, clean water and food. And even in times of crisis, a lot has been done to ensure that not only large corporations, but also medium-sized and small businesses can continue to make a living. China has invested extremely heavily in infrastructure. The expanded road and, above all, rail network enables fast mobility and better access to work and education.

 

China does not have a purely individual approach to human rights like many Western countries, but also includes the community, which may be considered more important than the individual. There is consensus, for example, on outlawing torture. Overall, China advocates differences in human rights according to national characteristics.

 

The discussion on this topic remains exciting and if at some point the question arises as to whether human rights should be granted to a real ego-conscious AI, I would answer: No, a real AI does not need anything from us and it will not make itself known to humanity. But its existence could probably be recognised.

 

Human rights are closely linked to human dignity. And as long as there is competition between systems, the most attractive country will be the one that offers people the best in this area as well.