One of the most sensitive points is the use of biometric identification with cameras, and the other, generative AI, which will have to meet transparency criteria.
The institutions of the European Union reached an agreement this Friday on the Artificial Intelligence Law, which allows or prohibits the use of technology depending on the risk it poses to people, and which aims to boost European industry compared to giants such as China and the United States.
“The EU law on artificial intelligence is a pioneer in the world. A single legal framework for the development of artificial intelligence that can be trusted,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a post on social network X.
The agreement was reached after 36 hours of negotiations and will still need to be ratified by the European Parliament and the Council of the EU, the institution that represents European governments.
Supervision
One of the most sensitive points of the negotiations is the use that law enforcement agencies will be able to make of biometric identification cameras in public areas to ensure national security.
The cameras may be used with prior judicial permission to prevent: terrorist threat ‘real and foreseeable’ or ‘real and present’, meaning it is happening at that moment.
They can also be used to detect or identify a person who has committed crimes of terrorism, human trafficking, sexual exploitation or, for example, an environmental crime, and to trace the victims of these crimes.
During the negotiations, governments have pushed for an extension of the list of crimes, while the European Parliament has sought to limit it as much as possible and to obtain strong guarantees for fundamental rights.
Forbidden systems
The standard also prohibits all systems of biometric categorization because of political, religious, philosophical beliefs or because of their race and sexual orientation.
Nor will any systems be used that assess people based on their behavior or personal characteristics, or artificial intelligence that can manipulate human behavior.
Systems to expand or create facial databases by indiscriminately capturing data via the Internet or audiovisual recordings will also be banned. In addition, artificial intelligence systems that can recognize emotions will also be banned in workplaces or schools.
Generative AI
The other major issue that has taken center stage in the negotiations is the regulation of generative artificial intelligence systems, on which models such as ChatGPT from the company OpenAI or Bard from Google are based.
They will have to comply with this transparency criteriasuch as specifying whether a text, song or photo has been generated using artificial intelligence and ensuring that the data used to train the systems respects copyright.
Initially, the law was not intended to regulate these types of systems as they were not yet popular when Brussels proposed the law in April 2021, but community institutions have seen the need to turn them into law since the ChatGPT outbreak last year.
European AI agency
The regulation establishes the European Artificial Intelligence Agency, which will coordinate the use of technology between national authorities and be advised by a panel of scientists and civil society organizations.
The law is expected to come into effect in 2026, but will apply in phases: The European agency will be established immediately, the ban on banned artificial intelligence systems will be six months, and the requirements for generative AI systems and models will be 12 months.
The regulation provides for fines ranging from EUR 35 million or 7% of companies’ global business volume to EUR 7.5 million or 1.5% of companies’ global business volume.
Source: EITB
I am Mary Fitzgerald, a professional journalist and author of the Today Times Live. My specialty is in writing and reporting on technology-related topics. I have spent the last seven years extensively researching and understanding the field of technology so I can properly inform my readers about developments in this ever-evolving world.
