European Parliament approves law regulating artificial intelligence

This Wednesday, the European Parliament approved “historic legislation” – called the Artificial Intelligence Law – which establishes the rules for the use of this new technology by the 27 countries of the European Union. The aim is to ensure safety in the use of artificial intelligence tools and protect the fulfillment of fundamental rights, while also aiming to give a boost to innovation in this innovative area and allow the EU to be a “leader in this field”.

The new law, which had already been agreed through negotiations with Member States in December 2023, was approved by MEPs with 523 votes in favor, 46 against and 49 abstentions, the European Parliament said in a statement.

“We finally have the world’s first binding law on artificial intelligence to reduce risks, create opportunities, combat discrimination and bring more transparency. Thanks to the European Parliament, unacceptable practices, artificial intelligence will be banned in Europe and the rights of workers and citizens will be protected”, said the co-rapporteur of the Internal Market Commission, the Italian Brando Benifei.

For his part, the co-rapporteur of the Civil Liberties Committee, the Romanian Dragos Tudorache, added: “The EU has delivered. We linked the concept of artificial intelligence to core values. However, there is still a lot of work ahead. The Artificial Intelligence Law is the starting point for a new governance model built around technology.”

The rules that will now be put into practice establish the necessary safeguards for the use of artificial intelligence, impose limits the use of biometric identification systems by law enforcement authorities, prohibits the so-called “social scoring” and the use of artificial intelligence to manipulate or exploit the vulnerabilities of European users. Furthermore, it also enshrines the right of consumers to lodge complaints and receive explanations about the use of artificial intelligence. The law thus establishes the “obligations of artificial intelligence” based on its potential risks and level of impact.

Regarding transparency, general-purpose artificial intelligence must comply with EU copyright legislation, with “more powerful” systems that may pose systemic risks facing additional requirements, including carrying out security assessments. models, the assessment and mitigation of systemic risks and the preparation of incident reports”.

“Artificial or manipulated images, whether audio or video content (“deepfakes”), must be clearly labeled as such”, informs the European Parliament.

With this law, certain artificial intelligence applications that potentially threaten citizens' rights are prohibited, including “biometric categorization systems, based on sensitive characteristics and non-directed collection of facial images from the internet or images from closed circuit television (CCTV) to create facial recognition databases.”

“Emotion recognition in the workplace and schools, social scoring, predictive policing (when it is based solely on a person’s profile or the assessment of their characteristics) and artificial intelligence that manipulates human behavior or exploits people’s vulnerabilities will also be prohibited”, says the same statement.

And still the use of biometric identification systems by law enforcement authorities is prohibited, “except in strictly defined situations”. Resources for these systems “in real time” can only be authorized if the use is “limited in time, geographical scope and subject to prior judicial or administrative authorization”, such as, for example, in searches for missing persons or in the prevention of an terrorist attack. The use of biometric identification remotely or “post-facto” is considered a “high-risk use, requiring judicial authorization and being linked to a crime”.

The European Parliament also states that clear obligations are foreseen for other high-risk artificial intelligence systems, taking into account potential significant harm to health, safety, fundamental rights, the environment, democracy and the rule of law.

The list of “high-risk uses of artificial intelligence” includes critical infrastructure, education and vocational training, employment, essential public and private services (health care, banking), certain law enforcement systems, migration and management. borders, justice and democratic processes (elections).