After a three-day long negotiation, the Council presidency and the European Parliament’s negotiators have come to a tentative agreement on the proposal for harmonized rules on artificial intelligence (AI), known as the artificial intelligence act. The proposed regulation aims to ensure that AI systems used in the EU and placed on the European market are safe and respect fundamental rights and EU values. This significant proposal also intends to promote investment and innovation in AI within Europe.
“This is a historical achievement, and a huge milestone towards the future! Today’s agreement effectively addresses a global challenge in a fast-evolving technological environment on a key area for the future of our societies and economies. And in this endeavour, we managed to keep an extremely delicate balance: boosting innovation and uptake of artificial intelligence across Europe whilst fully respecting the fundamental rights of our citizens.” — Carme Artigas, Spanish secretary of state for digitalisation and artificial intelligence
The AI act is a flagship legislative initiative with the potential to foster the development and uptake of safe and trustworthy AI across the EU’s single market by both private and public actors. The main idea is to regulate AI based on the latter’s capacity to cause harm to society following a ‘risk-based’ approach: the higher the risk, the stricter the rules. As the first legislative proposal of its kind in the world, it can set a global standard for AI regulation in other jurisdictions, just as the GDPR has done, thus promoting the European approach to tech regulation in the world stage.
Among the new rules, legislators agreed to strict restrictions on the use of facial recognition technology except for narrowly defined law enforcement exceptions.
Considering the specificities of law enforcement authorities and the need to preserve their ability to use AI in their vital work, several changes to the Commission proposal were agreed relating to the use of AI systems for law enforcement purposes. Subject to appropriate safeguards, these changes are meant to reflect the need to respect the confidentiality of sensitive operational data in relation to their activities. For example, an emergency procedure was introduced allowing law enforcement agencies to deploy a high-risk AI tool that has not passed the conformity assessment procedure in case of urgency. However, a specific mechanism has been also introduced to ensure that fundamental rights will be sufficiently protected against any potential misuses of AI systems.
Moreover, as regards the use of real-time remote biometric identification systems in publicly accessible spaces, the provisional agreement clarifies the objectives where such use is strictly necessary for law enforcement purposes and for which law enforcement authorities should therefore be exceptionally allowed to use such systems. The compromise agreement provides for additional safeguards and limits these exceptions to cases of victims of certain crimes, prevention of genuine, present, or foreseeable threats, such as terrorist attacks, and searches for people suspected of the most serious crimes.
The legislation also includes bans on the use of AI for “social scoring” — using metrics to establish how upstanding someone is — and AI systems that “manipulate human behaviour to circumvent their free will”. The use of AI to exploit those vulnerable because of their age, disability or economic situation is also banned.
Some tech groups were not pleased. Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl, director-general for DigitalEurope, which represents the continent’s technology sector, said: “We have a deal, but at what cost? We fully supported a risk-based approach based on the uses of AI, not the technology itself, but the last-minute attempt to regulate foundation models has turned this on its head. “The new requirements — on top of other sweeping new laws like the Data Act — will take a lot of resources for companies to comply with, resources that will be spent on lawyers instead of hiring AI engineers.”
In conclusion, the EU’s Artificial Intelligence Act is a groundbreaking step towards harmonizing AI regulations within the region. The act follows a ‘risk-based’ approach and aims to set a global standard for AI governance. Key provisions address facial recognition, law enforcement needs, and ethical considerations. However, some tech groups have raised concerns regarding potential resource burdens. Further discussions may be necessary to balance regulation and innovation in the evolving tech landscape.
Sources:
- https://www.ft.com/content/d5bec462-d948-4437-aab1-e6505031a303
- https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2023/12/09/artificial-intelligence-act-council-and-parliament-strike-a-deal-on-the-first-worldwide-rules-for-ai/
- https://www.cnbc.com/2023/12/08/eu-agrees-to-landmark-rules-governing-ai-after-chatgpt-takes-off.html
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Additional info:
https://apnews.com/article/ai-act-europe-regulation-59466a4d8fd3597b04542ef25831322c
Cool, EU’s Artificial Intelligence Act is a significant step in regulating AI. The ‘risk-based’ approach is promising. Excited to see how this groundbreaking legislation unfolds and its global impact!)))
This is a major milestone for AI regulation in the EU. The proposed Artificial Intelligence Act aims to ensure the safety and respect of fundamental rights in the use of AI systems within the European market. It’s an exciting step towards fostering innovation and investment in AI while maintaining the balance between technological advancements and citizens’ rights.