Amnesty International reported on Thursday that technology companies have used unlawful web scraping to collect large amounts of online data for the development of generative artificial intelligence (AI) models, violating the right to privacy and other human rights standards. The organization called for such data collection systems to be banned and called on governments to intervene to regulate these practices.
In one report Amnesty documented the risks associated with the large-scale data collection and processing systems used by companies such as Google, Meta and OpenAI, stating that standalone generative AI systems rely on unlawful web scraping to extract large amounts of users’ online data to train their generative AI models, making these systems unlawful by design and deployment.
According to Likhita Banerji, head of the Algorithmic Accountability Lab at Amnesty International, these data scraping systems extracted information from billions of public online posts worldwide without the express consent of web users, violating their consent Right to privacy anchored in fundamental human rights treaties and specific resolutions on the right to privacy in the digital age. The group also said that the generative AI systems immortalized Racial and gender bias and discrimination that reflect real-world biases and cultural stereotypes inherent in training data retrieved from the Internet.
In addition, Amnesty International emphasized that the rapid development of generative AI models has serious consequences Consequences for the environment. First, the development of generative AI requires the construction of data centers to house AI servers, which consume significant water resources in both construction and operation, at a time when water is becoming increasingly scarce in many places. These data centers also produce e-waste, which often contains dangerous substances such as mercury and lead. Second, AI-related infrastructure relies heavily on critical minerals and rare elements, the mining of which is often unsustainable.
As a result, Amnesty International called on technology companies to stop unlawful mass collection of data to train their standalone generative AI models and called on states to hold companies accountable for human rights violations related to the development of AI tools and business decisions.
There has been a debate about the challenges associated with AI development. Key concerns included the misuse of AI in surveillance technologies, non-consensual data extraction, data leaks, inferential profiling of individuals and the creation of synthetic media that can influence individual behavior, particularly among vulnerable groups such as children, leading to national and international efforts to implement appropriate regulations.
In response, several countries, including Brazil and Vietnam, have enacted specific laws to address the issue of safety when using AI. In February 2026, given the increasing use of AI technologies by the military to commit human rights abuses, the UN Secretary-General emphasized the need to maintain AI governance and regulation without hindering innovation.
