The European Commission presented on April 21 strict new rules that will govern the use of artificial intelligence (AI), given that it is a very important technology but raises ethical and security issues. The EU regulations will make it illegal to use AI in facial recognition, surveillance and algorithms that observe human behavior, in order to limit the use of this technology. In addition, they will set limits on the use of AI in a range of activities – from self-driving cars to leasing decisions, bank lending, school enrollment choices and exam scores.
The new proposals will also cover the use of artificial intelligence by the police and courts – areas considered “high risk” because they could threaten people’s security or fundamental rights. Some uses of AI will be banned altogether, including real-time facial recognition in public spaces, although there will be many exceptions for national security and other purposes.
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With the proposed legislation, the EU is trying to strike a balance between preserving artificial intelligence as a tool that serves humans exclusively in a safe way, and European countries' competition with China and the US in technological innovations. At the same time, it recognizes that artificial intelligence already plays an important role in people's everyday lives.
Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission for a Europe fit for the digital age, said: "Trust in AI is an absolute necessity, not just a wish. With these landmark regulations, the EU is leading the way in developing new global standards to ensure that we can trust AI. By setting standards, we can pave the way for ethical technology at global level, and ensure that the EU remains competitive throughout. Our regulations, which are timeless and innovation-friendly, will intervene where it is absolutely necessary: when the security and fundamental rights of EU citizens are at stake."
Thierry Breton, Commissioner for Internal Market, said: "Artificial intelligence is a means, not an end in itself. It has been around for decades, but now it has achieved more thanks to greater computing power. It offers huge potential in a range of sectors – from health and transport to energy, agriculture, tourism and cybersecurity. It also carries some risks. The new proposals aim to strengthen Europe's position as a global hub of excellence in AI from the lab to the market, to ensure that AI in Europe respects our values and regulations, and to unlock the potential of AI for industrial use."
The aim of the new regulations is to ensure that Europeans can trust everything that artificial intelligence has to offer. The coordinated plan outlines the necessary policy changes and investments at Member State level to strengthen Europe's leadership in the development of human-centric, sustainable, safe and trustworthy AI without exclusion.
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The new regulations will be applied immediately and in the same way in all member states based on a timeless definition of artificial intelligence.
The 108-page policy is an attempt to regulate an emerging technology before it becomes mainstream. The regulations also heavily impact tech giants that have invested resources in developing artificial intelligence — including Amazon, Google, Facebook and Microsoft — as well as dozens of other companies that use the software to develop medicine, underwrite insurance policies and judge creditworthiness.
Companies that violate the new regulations – which could take several years to go through the EU policymaking process – could face fines of up to 6% of global sales.
The EU regulations will require companies that deploy AI in high-risk areas to provide regulators with proof of its safety, including risk assessments and documentation explaining how the technology makes decisions. Companies must also guarantee human oversight of how AI systems are built and used.
Additionally, some applications, such as chatbots that provide human-like conversations in customer service situations and software that creates “deepfakes,” must make it clear to users that what they see has been generated by a computer.
For years, the EU has been the tech world's toughest watchdog, with other nations often using its policies as blueprints. The bloc has already enacted the world's most comprehensive data privacy regulations and is discussing additional regulations on antitrust and content oversight.
But Europe is no longer alone in pushing for tougher oversight. The biggest tech companies now face extensive scrutiny from governments around the world. In the US, Joe Biden has filled his administration with industry critics. At the same time, Britain is creating a technology regulator to police the industry. India is also stepping up its oversight of social media. China, for its part, has targeted domestic tech giants such as Alibaba and Tencent.
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The results in the coming years could reshape how the global Internet works and how new technologies are used, with people having access to different content, digital services or online freedoms depending on where they are.
Artificial intelligence – in which machines are trained to perform tasks and make decisions on their own by studying vast amounts of data – is seen by technologists, business leaders and government officials as one of the world's most transformative technologies, promising major productivity gains.
But as systems become more sophisticated, it can be harder to understand why software makes a decision, a problem that could worsen as computers become more powerful. Researchers have raised ethical questions about the use of AI, suggesting that it could perpetuate existing prejudices in society, invade privacy or lead to the automation of more jobs.
The announcement of the new EU regulations has sparked mixed reactions. Many in the industry expressed relief that the regulations are not stricter, while civil society groups said the regulations should have been stricter.
