The Challenge of Human Dignity in the Era of Autonomous Systems

Autonomous systems make decisions independently or on behalf of theuser. This will happen more and more in the future, with the widespread use of AItechnologies in the fabric of the society that impacts on the social, economic, andpolitical sphere. Automating services and processes inevitably impacts on the users’prerogatives and puts at danger their autonomy and privacy. From a societal point ofview, it is crucial to understand which is the space of autonomy that a system canexercise without compromising laws and human rights. Following the EuropeanGroup on Ethics in Science and New Technologies 2018 recommendation, thechapter addresses the problem of preserving the value of human dignity in thecontext of the digital society, understood as the recognition that a person is worthyof respect in her interaction with autonomous technologies. A person must be able toexercise control on information about herself and on the decisions that autonomoussystems make on her behalf.