Designing For Dignity: Human-Centred AI Governance And The Future Of Digital Rights
O. Jayarevathi, M.A., M.L., Assistant Professor, Government Law College, Vellore
ABSTRACT
As artificial intelligence (AI) systems increasingly mediate access to information, employment, credit, healthcare, and public services, the question of how digital rights should be conceived and protected has moved from the margins of technology policy to its centre. This paper examines the concept of a human-centred AI society -- one in which the design, deployment, and governance of AI systems are oriented around human dignity, autonomy, and equitable participation rather than narrowly around technical performance or commercial efficiency. Drawing on human rights theory, comparative AI governance frameworks, and the sociotechnical critique of algorithmic systems, the paper argues that existing digital rights - - privacy, non-discrimination, due process, and freedom of expression -- are being reshaped and, in some cases, eroded by the scale, opacity, and automation characteristic of contemporary AI. The paper surveys the emerging global governance landscape, including the EU Artificial Intelligence Act, the Council of Europe's Framework Convention on Artificial Intelligence, the UNESCO Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence, the OECD AI Principles, and national approaches in India and the United States, to assess how far these instruments operationalize human-centred commitments in practice. Building on this analysis, the paper proposes institutional and design-level building blocks for a human-centred AI society, including participatory design, independent algorithmic auditing, public digital literacy, and dedicated oversight institutions such as AI ombudspersons and regulatory sandboxes. The paper concludes that a human-centred AI future depends not on any single regulatory instrument but on the sustained alignment of law, technical design, and public accountability around the protection of human dignity in an increasingly automated society.
Keywords: human-centred AI, digital rights, AI governance, human dignity, algorithmic accountability, AI ethics, technology policy.
