Rights & Ethics

high-risk uses

AI uses with significant potential harm to rights, safety or wellbeing.

Definitions (3)

High‑risk uses are applications or deployments of AI that, based on their purpose and context, have the potential to significantly affect people’s rights, safety, legal status or wellbeing. The framework advises that such uses be subject to more rigorous, proportionate assurance measures including enhanced testing, human oversight, transparency and redress mechanisms.

AI applications or deployments whose scale, impact or domain (e.g., health, justice, social services) carry substantial potential to affect individuals' rights, access to essential services or legal/administrative outcomes, and that therefore require ex-ante impact assessments and strengthened safeguards.

Uses of AI systems that present significant threats to human rights, democratic processes or the rule of law and which therefore attract heightened obligations such as enhanced risk assessment, stricter oversight, possible prohibitions or moratoria and access to remedies.