Human dignity in the age of artificial intelligence, legal and technological challenges of the twenty-first century

Javier A. Artiles-Santana

doi:10.5281/

Authors

Javier A. Artiles-Santana Universidad San Gregorio de Portoviejo, Manabí Ecuador Author https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8897-7710

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5281/

Keywords:

Artificial intelligence, human dignity, fundamental rights, algorithmic regulation, systemic dignity

Abstract

This study critically examines the contemporary reconfiguration of the legal understanding of human dignity in the digital era and the legal and technological challenges arising from the increasing incorporation of artificial intelligence systems into decision-making processes that may affect fundamental rights. The analysis draws primarily on scientific literature retrieved from Scopus and Web of Science, complemented by doctrinal, normative, regulatory, and institutional sources issued by international organizations. A qualitative documentary design was adopted, combining legal and philosophical analysis within the frameworks of legal constructivism and the paradigm of complexity. The results reveal tensions involving human autonomy, privacy, equality, non-discrimination, transparency, accountability, and effective human oversight. From the documentary analysis, the study develops the construct of systemic dignity, understood as the dynamic projection of human dignity within complex sociotechnical environments in which individuals, legal systems, and artificial intelligence technologies interact. This construct extends the explanatory and regulatory scope of human dignity and supports rights-based, adaptive, and multilevel regulatory frameworks capable of ensuring effective human control and concrete legal safeguards throughout the artificial intelligence life cycle. It thereby reinforces the primacy of the person and protection of fundamental rights in automated decision-making environments.

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