Artificial Intelligence Act: European Parliament approves landmark law

The EU’s Artificial Intelligence Act will classify products and adjust its scrutiny according to risk in a bid to develop a “human-centric” tech industry. The law seeks to protect fundamental rights, democracy, the rule of law, and environmental sustainability from high-risk AI.

 “The AI act is not the end of the journey but the starting point for new governance built around technology,” stated MEP Dragoș Tudorache.

During the plenary debate last Tuesday, the Internal Market Committee co-rapporteur, Brando Benifei, commented: “We finally have the world’s first binding law on artificial intelligence, to reduce risks, create opportunities, combat discrimination, and bring transparency. Thanks to Parliament, unacceptable AI practices will be banned in Europe and the rights of workers and citizens will be protected.”

Late last year, the UK hosted an AI Safety Summit but has not expressed plans for legislation along the lines of the AI Act.

How the AI Act will work

The law aims to regulate AI based on its potential risk to society. Therefore, the higher the capacity for harm, the stricter the rules. According to the new Act

• Safeguards will be placed on general purpose artificial intelligence
• Limits will be set for the use of biometric identification systems by law enforcement
• There will be a ban on social scoring and AI used to manipulate or exploit user vulnerabilities
• The rights of consumers to launch complaints and receive meaningful explanations will be prioritised.

High-risk AI systems, including those used in critical infrastructure, education, healthcare, law enforcement, border management or elections, will be required to comply with strict requirements.

Low-risk services, such as spam filters, will face minimal regulation.

Moving forward, the Act must pass several more steps including a final lawyer-linguist check and formal endorsement by the Council before it becomes official law.

ITIJ recently looked at the ways AI technology has enabled criminals to gain pace despite insurers increasing layers of protection.