Real Rights in the Virtual World: Human Rights in the Age of Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality
Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing (2026), xi, 245 pp.
"Riku Neuvonen and Jukka Viljanen examine the next developmental phase of information networks, positioning human rights at the centre of their analysis. Chapters assess the current problems facing the digital world as well as new challenges posed by virtual worlds, including access to information and privacy. Adopting a multidisciplinary approach, the authors evaluate digital constitutionalism in AI-populated metaverses, the roles of language rights and intellectual property in the metaverse, and generative AI's impact on autonomy, truth and equality. Ultimately, they bring innovative research topics and ideas to the forefront of human rights studies in the age of virtual reality and AI." (Publisher description)
1 Introduction to real rights in virtual worlds / Riku Neuvonen and Jukka Viljanen, 1
PART I. VIRTUAL REALITY AND HUMAN RIGHTS
2 Real rights in virtual worlds / Riku Neuvonen and Jukka Viljanen, 12
3 Digital constitutionalism in AI-populated metaverses / Juan Diego Arregui Acosta, Edoardo Celeste and Victor Henriquez Diaz, 31
4 Intellectual property in the metaverse: when a virtual force meets an intangible object / Philippe Jougleux, 52
5 Language rights in the metaverse: the implications of translingual metaverse communication / Maarit Koponen, Rui Sousa-Silva and Antonio Pareja-Lora, 70
6 Virtual public spaces / Riku Neuvonen, 90
PART II. LEGAL SUBJECTS IN VIRTUAL WORLDS
7 The experience of virtual worlds – believability, immersion, and embodiment / Jean Du Toit and Wian Erlank, 107
8 Rights for daemons: the question of legal personhood / Siina Raskulla, 126
9 Generative AI’s impact on autonomy, truth and equality: three regulatory quagmires for the proto- and the metaverse / Bart van der Sloot, 154
PART III. VIRTUAL WORLD AND FUTURE TRENDS
10 Rules for virtual worlds: reconciling contexts and perspectives / Joanna Kulesza and Eneken Tikk, 170
11 The continuum of real and virtual human rights: a theoretical, conceptual, and doctrinal approach to connecting human rights, future generations, and the virtual world / Anu Mutanen, 196
12 Explorative futures of the metaverse: relations, contradictions, and future folds / Toni Ahlqvist, Mikkel Knudsen and Amos Taylor, 226
PART I. VIRTUAL REALITY AND HUMAN RIGHTS
2 Real rights in virtual worlds / Riku Neuvonen and Jukka Viljanen, 12
3 Digital constitutionalism in AI-populated metaverses / Juan Diego Arregui Acosta, Edoardo Celeste and Victor Henriquez Diaz, 31
4 Intellectual property in the metaverse: when a virtual force meets an intangible object / Philippe Jougleux, 52
5 Language rights in the metaverse: the implications of translingual metaverse communication / Maarit Koponen, Rui Sousa-Silva and Antonio Pareja-Lora, 70
6 Virtual public spaces / Riku Neuvonen, 90
PART II. LEGAL SUBJECTS IN VIRTUAL WORLDS
7 The experience of virtual worlds – believability, immersion, and embodiment / Jean Du Toit and Wian Erlank, 107
8 Rights for daemons: the question of legal personhood / Siina Raskulla, 126
9 Generative AI’s impact on autonomy, truth and equality: three regulatory quagmires for the proto- and the metaverse / Bart van der Sloot, 154
PART III. VIRTUAL WORLD AND FUTURE TRENDS
10 Rules for virtual worlds: reconciling contexts and perspectives / Joanna Kulesza and Eneken Tikk, 170
11 The continuum of real and virtual human rights: a theoretical, conceptual, and doctrinal approach to connecting human rights, future generations, and the virtual world / Anu Mutanen, 196
12 Explorative futures of the metaverse: relations, contradictions, and future folds / Toni Ahlqvist, Mikkel Knudsen and Amos Taylor, 226
