In order to raise awareness on human rights violations that the use of artificial intelligence may cause within the scope of the prohibition of discrimination and to understand the role of equality institutions on fighting against these violations, the "International Symposium on the Impacts of the Use of Artificial Intelligence on the Principle of Non-Discrimination" was held in Gaziantep in cooperation with our Institution and Hasan Kalyoncu University.

Speaking at the opening conference of the symposium, Chairman Prof. Dr. Muharrem Kılıç thanked those who contributed to the organization of the symposium. Prof. Dr. Kılıç said that although engineering fields come to mind at first regarding the effects of artificial intelligence use in the context of non-discrimination, the subject is actually related to many fields. Chairman Prof. Dr. Muharrem Kılıç continued:

“It has become possible to express the century we are living in as the age of digital surveillance. In this context, if we include the opportunities and social media opportunities provided by this digitalization, we need to say that we are in a network society. With a social media share we make from our place of residence, we can sometimes take part in that network society as a right subject and sometimes as a perpetrator of a crime. We are in an age of interaction where everyone can spy on everyone.”

Stating that our age has turned into a great data age, Prof. Dr. Kılıç; "Now, the person who has the data can control the whole world, the whole audience. Personal data is important. We are also witnessing that this data can be used in a way that violates human dignity, rights and freedoms. "

Expressing that smart court applications have started in some countries, Prof. Dr. Kılıç said that in this context, cases such as e-commerce and intellectual property are only pended in smart courts. Expressing that smart or artificial intelligence courts create serious concerns, especially on the basis of rights, Prof. Dr. Kılıç said, "A systematic and institutionalized machine bias that goes beyond humanitarian bias may emerge. Because the machine constantly evaluates the same cases as the data it receives, and in algorithmic software, if there is a bias, malicious intent, it can constantly repeat it. We need to say that this may also violate the presumption of innocence.”

Chairman Prof. Dr. Kılıç emphasized that for all these reasons, national human rights institutions should approach the issue sensitively and include it on their agendas.

On the other hand, Rector of Hasan Kalyoncu University, Prof. Dr. Türkay Dereli stated that the Symposium would ensure that the artificial intelligence, which is planned to be used extensively in the future to develop better and fairer systems, would be questioned and his justice would be put on the table and stated that he thought the event would attract great attention in the public opinion.

Istanbul Bilgi University Faculty of Law Dean Prof. Dr. Leyla Keser, on the other hand, stated that groups working in this field under the Council of Europe are also concerned about the potential use of artificial intelligence to illegally or unnecessarily intervene in democratic processes.

Following the opening speeches, expert guests who worked on the subject made their presentations in the sessions titled "Algorithmic Discrimination and the Prohibition of Discrimination in the Age of Artificial Intelligence", "Evaluation of Artificial Intelligence Applications in Terms of Criminal Law" and "Evaluation the Interaction Between Law and Artificial Intelligence in Different Application Areas".