HH4AI: A methodological Framework for AI Human Rights impact assessment under the EUAI ACT

This paper introduces the HH4AI Methodology, a structured approach to assessing the impact of AI systems on human rights, focusing on compliance with the EU AI Act and addressing technical, ethical and regulatory challenges. The paper highlights AI’s transformative nature, driven by autonomy, data and goal-oriented design, and how the EU AI Act promotes transparency, accountability and safety. A key challenge is defining and assessing "high-risk" AI systems across industries, complicated by the lack of universally accepted standards and AI’s rapid evolution. To address these challenges, the paper explores the relevance of ISO/IEC and IEEE standards, focusing on risk management, data quality, bias mitigation and governance. It proposes a Fundamental Rights Impact Assessment (FRIA) methodology, a gate-based framework designed to isolate and assess risks through phases including an AI system overview, a human rights checklist, an impact assessment and a final output phase. A filtering mechanism tailors the assessment to the system’s characteristics, targeting specific areas like accountability, AI literacy, data governance and transparency. The structured approach enables systematic filtering, comprehensive risk assessment and mitigation planning, effectively prioritizing critical risks and providing clear remediation strategies. This promotes better alignment with human rights principles and enhances regulatory compliance.