The roundtable was organized as a cooperation between the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Fundamental and Human Rights (LBI-GMR) and the University of Vienna, together with the Institute for Ethics in AI at the Technical University of Munich (TUM IEAI) and Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU). Our Director, Michael Lysander Fremuth, and Camilla Haake, Head of the Research Group “Sustainability, Development, Economy and Society,” played a key role in organizing and conducting the event. The cooperation reflects the LBI-GMR’s strategic commitment to strengthening its engagement with the topic of “AI and Human Rights.”

In 2024, the TUM IEAI, in collaboration with more than 50 international experts, developed a draft “UN Convention on AI, Data and Human Rights” (Munich Convention), which has subsequently been advanced through discussions within the UN Human Rights Council. The Munich Convention serves as a concrete proposal for an international treaty based on the Charter of the United Nations (UN) and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Munich roundtable brought together experts from relevant fields including international law, international relations, AI governance, AI ethics, constitutional law, and human rights to discuss the transition from regional and soft-law instruments to a globally binding UN Convention on AI, Data and Human Rights, with the proposed Munich Convention serving as a blueprint.

Following opening remarks by Christoph Lütge, Director of the TUM IEAI, and Michael Lysander Fremuth, Caitlin Corrigan, Managing Director of the TUM TransforM Cluster, provided an overview of the development of the Munich Convention draft. Nicole Manger (TUM Think Tank; UNESCO) then outlined current challenges related to “Human Rights and the Global Governance of AI,” followed by Michaela Streibelt (blue marble legal), who addressed the cross-cutting issue of “AI and Corporate Human Rights Responsibilities,” and Alexander Kriebitz (LMU), who spoke on “A UN Convention and Its Position in AI Governance.”

Two discussion panels followed, focusing on the legal and political challenges posed by AI. In the panel “Frontier Technologies of AI and Their Legal Implications,” Michael Lysander Fremuth, Amanda Horzyk (University of Edinburgh), Guido Cassinadri (TUM), and Svitlana Iasechko (University of Copenhagen / Kharkiv University of Internal Affairs), under the expert moderation of Camilla Haake, discussed two key questions: first, whether regulating AI requires the creation of new “digital human rights,” and second, whether regulating AI “by design,” that is, through technical means, could offer advantages over purely legal regulation.

In the subsequent panel on the political challenges of AI regulation (“Consensus despite fragmentation?”), moderator Alexander Kriebitz (LMU) asked panelists Stefanos Athanasiou (LMU), Kamil Strzepzek (Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University Warsaw), Michelle Bouchebel (Impunity Watch), and Camila Lombana Diaz (SAP) how a coherent international AI regulatory framework could be achieved despite regionally fragmented political interests.

A small-group exchange among participants based on guiding questions prepared by the organizers (including “What are common areas of convergence (even if minimal) that the United States, China and Europe could hypothetically agree upon, despite continuing differences?” and “Which stakeholders have not been part of the AI ethics discourse so far or have been relatively underrepresented in it? ”), followed by a concluding plenary discussion, once again demonstrated the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration for effective and efficient AI regulation, particularly at the international level.

The outcomes of the discussions will be incorporated into a strategic report over the coming months. The report will summarize the perspectives of global stakeholders on human rights-based AI governance and contribute to advancing negotiations on the proposed “UN Convention on AI, Data and Human Rights.”