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AI-based tools for corporate human rights due diligence in supply chains

Source article: Corporate Accountability by Algorithm: AI and the Interpretation of Human Rights Due Diligence

Abstract As companies struggle to conduct human rights due diligence and governments attempt to monitor compliance with supply chain regulations, they are increasingly turning to digital technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI). While AI-based tools can improve supply chain visibility and assess human rights risks, they carry potential risks of marginalizing rightsholders and undermining traditional conceptions of corporate accountability. This article examines the methodologies behind these tools, the…

By the Truvace desk2 min read1 sourcePeer-reviewedTRV-2026-2067· cite & verify
Corporate Accountability by Algorithm: AI and the Interpretation of Human Rights Due Diligence
"Containers" by Jim Bahn is licensed under CC BY 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/.
Trace impact readingContested
P 66The P score combines the specificity and measured human impact of the grounded problem claim with the strength of this Trace’s cited sources.

Both sides are scored from claims and sources, not community votes.

G 69The G score combines the specificity and measured human impact of the grounded gain claim with the strength of this Trace’s cited sources.

In brief

A peer-reviewed study looks at how companies and governments are turning to artificial intelligence to carry out and monitor human rights due diligence in supply chains. It analyzes the methodologies behind these tools and the part technology firms play in designing and applying them, drawing on a critical analysis of the tools and interviews with technology firm officials, consultants and human rights advocates.

The findings matter because due diligence is a legal norm that must be interpreted, and the study argues that the tools place that interpretation in the hands of technology firms. The author concludes AI can strengthen due diligence while still risking the marginalization of rightsholders and a weaker conception of corporate accountability. The abstract does not quantify these effects, so how widespread they are remains uncertain.

Main points

  1. Companies struggle to conduct human rights due diligence, and governments try to monitor compliance with supply chain regulations.
  2. Both groups are increasingly adopting digital technologies, including artificial intelligence, to help.
  3. The study examines the methodologies behind AI tools and the role of technology firms in their design and application.
  4. Evidence comes from a critical analysis of AI-based tools plus interviews with technology firm officials, consultants and human rights advocates.
  5. The author argues AI can enhance due diligence but deemphasizes stakeholder engagement.

The gain

AI-based tools can improve supply chain visibility and help assess human rights risks for companies conducting due diligence.

The problem

Relying on technology firms to build AI due diligence tools delegates interpretive judgment of the legal norm to them, privatizes human rights and deemphasizes stakeholder engagement.

The rundown

The article, published in the Business and Human Rights Journal, starts from a practical pressure: firms find due diligence hard to carry out, and regulators need ways to check supply chain compliance. AI is presented as an increasingly adopted response to both needs.

The potential benefits it names are improved supply chain visibility and assessment of human rights risks. Alongside them it identifies risks of marginalizing rightsholders and undermining traditional conceptions of corporate accountability.

Its central concern is the unintended consequence of relying on technology firms to interpret the legal norm of human rights due diligence. The argument is that this delegation privatizes human rights and gives less weight to stakeholder engagement.

What this doesn’t fix

The source is an abstract of a qualitative, argument-driven study based on a critical analysis and interviews with selected groups, so it offers no measured outcomes on how often these effects occur.

Sources

  1. Peer-reviewedBusiness and Human Rights Journal2026-10-19

The debate