Respect My Dignity
AI must never be used to demean, discriminate, or dehumanize.
A woman applies for a leadership position. The AI screening tool ranks her lower — not because of her qualifications, but because the training data reflects decades of bias where men held those roles. She never gets the interview. She never knows why. She just knows she was not good enough, again. Except she was. The AI was not.
What This Means
Every person deserves to be treated with basic respect and dignity, and AI must uphold that standard. This means AI cannot be used to discriminate against people based on their gender, race, age, disability, religion, or any other characteristic. It cannot be used to humiliate, bully, or dehumanize. It cannot create degrading content about real people. If an AI system treats you as less than human, that system is broken — and it needs to be fixed or shut down.
A Real-World Scenario
A government agency used an AI system to assess welfare benefits. The system systematically rated applicants from certain ethnic neighborhoods as higher fraud risks, leading to more invasive checks and longer processing times. Families who needed help the most faced the biggest hurdles. An independent audit revealed the bias, and the system was overhauled — but not before thousands of families experienced unnecessary hardship and humiliation.
Why It Matters to You
Because discrimination hurts even more when it hides behind technology. When a person discriminates against you, you can confront them. When an AI does it, the bias is invisible, systematic, and affects thousands of people at once. Protecting dignity in the age of AI is about making sure technology amplifies fairness, not prejudice.
For the technically inclined
AP-5.2: Dignity Protection
AI systems must respect human dignity. They must not be used to demean, manipulate, discriminate against, or dehumanize individuals or groups.
What You Can Do
If you feel an AI system treated you unfairly because of who you are, document it and report it. Support organizations that audit AI systems for bias. Demand that companies and governments regularly test their AI for discrimination and publish the results.
Related Policies
Don't Manipulate Me
AI must never secretly influence your thoughts or choices.
Show Me How You Decided
If AI makes a decision about you, you deserve to know why.
Serve People, Not Profits
AI should make life better for everyone, not just shareholders.