GOVERNANCE, REGULATION, RIGHTS, AND WORK IN THE AGE OF AI:

Abstract

Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems increasingly participate in decisions that carry legal, economic, and civic weight; from hiring and credit scoring to policing and public administration. As these systems take on roles once reserved for human judgment, questions of accountability, rights protection, and labour impact have become central to responsible AI governance. This paper examines the evolving regulatory landscape surrounding AI, focusing on the tension between innovation and oversight, the "responsibility gap" created by autonomous decision-making, and the consequences of algorithmic governance for workers' rights and data privacy. Drawing on comparative analysis of the European Union's Artificial Intelligence Act, the United States' sectoral approach, and emerging international frameworks, the paper identifies structural challenges to enforcement, including regulatory lag, cross-border inconsistency, and the opacity of proprietary systems. It concludes that durable AI governance requires harmonized international standards, ethics-by-design practices, and sustained collaboration between regulators, technologists, and legal scholars to ensure that AI development remains accountable to the rights and livelihoods of the people it affects.