A/HRC/45/26 United Nations General Assembly Distr.: General 23 September 2020 Original: English Human Rights Council Forty-fifth session 14 September–2 October 2020 Agenda item 3 Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development Effects of artificial intelligence, including profiling, automated decision-making and machine-learning technologies, on the enjoyment of the right to privacy Note by the Secretariat* 1. In its resolution 42/15 on the right to privacy in the digital age, the Human Rights Council requested the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to prepare a thematic report on how artificial intelligence, including profiling, automated decisionmaking and machine-learning technologies, may, without proper safeguards, affect the enjoyment of the right to privacy, and to submit it to the Council at its forty-fifth session. 2. In light of the financial constraints faced by the Organization, the High Commissioner has not been in a position to prepare that report. * The present report was submitted after the deadline owing to circumstances beyond the submitter's control. GE.20-12360(E) 