“The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness”: The Future of Human Rights Law in the Light of Algorithmic Authority

Abstract

The increasing use of big data and machine learning algorithms raises several legal issues. Automated decision-making potentially undermines the very concept of human agency which is central to human rights law. Human agency enables a communication process between those bound by human rights and the rights-holders. To the extent that decision-making processes become fully automatic and autonomous, a form of algorithmic authority would arise. While human rights law is not silent with respect to such processes, doctrinal attempts to come to terms with this development are not very promising. Instead, a political process is required in order to establish a legal framework for the exercise of algorithmic authority.