Embedding Ethical Principles into AI Predictive Tools for Migration Management in Humanitarian Action

Abstract

AI predictive tools for migration management in the humanitarian field can significantly aid humanitarian actors in augmenting their decision-making capabilities and improving the lives and well-being of migrants. However, the use of AI predictive tools for migration management also poses several risks. Making humanitarian responses more effective using AI predictive tools cannot come at the expense of jeopardizing migrants’ rights, needs, and interests. Against this backdrop, embedding AI ethical principles into AI predictive tools for migration management becomes paramount. AI ethical principles must be imbued in the design, development, and deployment stages of these AI predictive tools to mitigate risks. Current guidelines to apply AI ethical frameworks contain high-level ethical principles which are not sufficiently specified for achievement. For AI ethical principles to have real impact, they must be translated into low-level technical and organizational measures to be adopted by those designing and developing AI tools. The context-specificity of AI tools implies that different contexts raise different ethical challenges to be considered. Therefore, the problem of how to operationalize AI ethical principles in AI predictive tools for migration management in the humanitarian field remains unresolved. To this end, eight ethical requirements are presented, with their corresponding safeguards to be implemented at the design and development stages of AI predictive tools for humanitarian action, with the aim of operationalizing AI ethical principles and mitigating the inherent risks.