IB Digital Society 5.2 Governance and Human Rights Key Definitions

The design of digital systems so that people with disabilities can use them, through features like screen readers, captions, and alternative ways to input. Well-designed systems widen inclusion, while poorly designed ones create new barriers.

Systematic, unfair outcomes produced by a computer system, often because the data it learned from under-represents some groups or encodes past inequality. In healthcare it can mean a tool works well for some patients and poorly for others.

A systematic error in an algorithm that produces unfair outcomes, often by favouring one group over another.

The degree to which a system can operate and make decisions on its own, without human control. Autonomy is a spectrum, from simple assistance to full independence.

The process by which platforms review and remove content that breaks their rules or the law, deciding what is allowed to stay online and what is taken down.

The use of digital attacks on an opponent's computer systems and networks to disrupt, damage, or spy, often targeting critical infrastructure. A defining feature is the attribution problem: it is frequently hard to prove who launched an attack, which weakens deterrence and accountability.

Using digital tools, especially social media and messaging, to raise awareness, organise, and mobilise people for a political or social cause. It lowers the cost of collective action but is criticised for shallow, low-effort participation and exposure to surveillance.

False information created and spread deliberately to deceive, often to sway opinion during a conflict or an election. It differs from misinformation, which is false information shared without the intent to mislead.

The delivery of government services and interactions with citizens through digital systems, such as online tax filing, digital ID, and internet voting. It can make services faster and more accessible, but raises issues of security, verifiability, and unequal access.

A machine learning application that identifies or verifies a person from an image or video by comparing patterns in their facial features against stored data.

Speech that attacks or demeans a person or group because of a characteristic such as race, religion, gender, or disability. Digital networks can spread it quickly and widely, which is why platforms and laws try, imperfectly, to limit it.

Weapons systems that use AI to select and attack targets on their own, with little or no human involvement in the decision to kill. The central debate is whether meaningful human control must be preserved, since a machine cannot be held responsible for a wrongful killing.

False or misleading information that spreads online, whether shared by mistake or deliberately, made harder to catch when convincing media can be produced and shared by anyone.

Media that is generated or heavily altered by artificial intelligence rather than captured from the real world, including AI-written text, images, audio, and video.