Estonian Human Rights Centre is participating as a partner in the international project “Safeguarding Equal Opportunities and Fundamental Rights in an AI-Mediated Environment” (REFRAIME). As part of the project, a practical tool has been developed for experts, companies, and organisations involved in AI development to help protect fundamental rights from the risks associated with the deployment of artificial intelligence.

The newly developed practical tool – the AIM Framework – offers domain experts, technology teams, and business and IT decision-makers a structured approach to identifying, documenting, and mitigating AI-related risks to fundamental rights. The framework, named after the initial letters of the English words awareness, identification, and mitigation, is supported by a checklist with illustrative scenarios that helps prevent negative impacts on fundamental rights throughout the entire AI system development lifecycle.

“The explosive development of artificial intelligence and its increasingly widespread use entail significant risks to our fundamental rights,” says Egert Rünne, Director of the Human Rights Centre. “We protect the fundamental rights enshrined in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights by raising awareness among individuals and organisations developing AI-based systems of the importance of fundamental rights. The AIM Framework demonstrates how the work of AI developers is linked to fundamental rights and supports the effective and practical implementation of ethical principles, in order to align AI innovation with applicable legal requirements and the public interest.”

The primary target group of the AIM Framework is AI developers, including both researchers who study the theoretical foundations and applications of artificial intelligence, as well as programmers and engineers working in academic institutions and the private sector.

The project is co-financed by the European Commission and the National Foundation of Civil Society in the amount of €3,695.88.