Hosted by the Data Ethics Club
The European Parliament has recently approved the Artificial Intelligence Act with 523 votes in favour, 46 against and 49 abstentions. “It aims to protect fundamental rights, democracy, the rule of law and environmental sustainability from high-risk AI, while boosting innovation and establishing Europe as a leader in the field. The regulation establishes obligations for AI based on its potential risks and level of impact.” The act bans applications that threaten citizen rights including:
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biometric categorisation systems based on sensitive characteristics
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untargeted facial scraping from the internet or CCTV to create facial recognition databases
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emotion recognition in the workplace and schools
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social scoring
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predictive policing (when it is based solely on profiling a person or assessing their characteristics)
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AI that manipulates human behaviour or exploits people’s vulnerabilities
The use of biometric identification systems by law enforcement are prohibited in principle, except for certain exceptions where their use is limited in time and geographic scope and given specific, case by case judicial or administrative authorisations (e.g. targeted search for a missing person or preventing a terrorist attacks). Using such tools retrospectively is considered a high-risk use case.
Artificial Intelligence Act: MEPs adopt landmark law
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