DIGHUM lectures: AI and the Global Call for Red Lines – Will It Help?

The initiative DIGHUM lectures started with regular online events to discuss the different aspects of Digital Humanism. The bidt and the TU Wien are cooperation partners for DIGHUM lecture series.

Speaker: Marc Rotenberg, Center for AI and Digital Policy, USA
Moderator: Anna Bon, UV Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Around the world, policymakers and researchers are converging on a simple conclusion: the future of trustworthy AI depends on establishing clear red lines for systems that undermine human rights, safety, or democratic institutions.

Leading AI scientists—including Russell, Hinton, and Bengio—have warned that some advanced systems exhibit behaviors developers cannot fully predict or control, underscoring the need for enforceable limits. Human-rights bodies have reached similar judgments: the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and UNESCO have called for bans on AI uses such as mass surveillance and social scoring. Recent frameworks—from the EU AI Act to the Council of Europe AI Convention—translate these concerns into concrete prohibitions. Building on earlier principles such as the Termination Obligation in the Universal Guidelines for AI, the new AI Red Line Initiative seeks to amplify these emerging prohibitions.

The evidence is now clear: well-defined red lines do help. They protect fundamental rights, provide operational clarity for developers, and create space for beneficial innovation within boundaries that preserve human control.

About the Series
A roughly bi-weekly seminar offers presentations and panels from worldwide thought leaders. It is typically held on Tuesday afternoons at 17:00 CET.

The bidt and the TU Wien are cooperation partners for the DIGHUM lecture series.

Digital Humanism deals with the complex relationship between man and machine. It acknowledges the potential of Informatics and IT. At the same time, it points to related apparent threats such as privacy violations, ethical concerns with AI, automation, loss of jobs, and the ongoing monopolisation on the Web.

For this reason, a new initiative — DIGHUM lectures — started with regular online events to discuss the different aspects of Digital Humanism.

We will have one or more speakers on a specific topic followed by a discussion, or panel discussions, depending on the topic and speakers. The exact dates will be announced at least two weeks before.

Participate via Zoom
Zoom | meeting: 9638 9928 143, password: 0dzqxqiy

Participate VIA YouTube
Talk will be live-streamed and recorded via YouTube