The European Parliament this Wednesday gave the green light to the first European Union (EU) rules for artificial intelligence (AI), which will now negotiate with the Council, to ban biometric surveillance and bring transparency to systems like ChatGPT.
At the plenary meeting of the European Parliament in the French city of Strasbourg, MEPs approved by 499 votes to 28, with 93 abstentions, their negotiating position to start negotiations with EU Member States (represented on the Council) on the final form of the law on artificial intelligence, which the Commission hopes will be implemented at the end of this year.
“The rules aim to promote the implementation of human-centered and reliable AI and to protect health, safety, fundamental rights and democracy from its harmful effects,” the European Assembly said in a statement.
In particular, this position, now adopted by MEPs, determines that the new rules provide for a complete ban on the use of AI for biometric surveillance, emotion recognition and preventive policing, require that systems generating this technology, such as ChatGPT, transparently indicate, that the content was generated by AI, and although the programs used to influence voters in elections are considered high-risk.
In April 2021, the European Commission submitted a proposal to regulate AI systems, the first EU-level legislation that aims to protect the core values and rights of the EU, as well as the safety of users, by forcing systems considered high risk to comply with mandatory requirements related to its reliability.
The document has since been discussed between lawmakers and in an interview with Lusa and other European media in Brussels at the end of May, the European Commission’s Executive Vice President in charge of “a Europe prepared for the Digital Age and competition, Margrethe Vestager, said she expects this year of agreement in the EU on the first law on artificial intelligence.
“We hope that we will have the first trial [discussão entre colegisladores] on an AI law in Europe before the summer, which will mean that if we work hard on it, we can have a result by the end of the year,” said Margret Vestager, while acknowledging that the new rules will only come into force in 2025, given the necessary adaptation time, not following the speed of technology.
Thus, this will be the first regulation aimed at AI, despite the fact that the creators and those responsible for the development of this technology are already subject to European legislation on fundamental rights, consumer protection and product safety and liability rules.
It is expected that additional requirements will be introduced to eliminate risks, such as the presence of human control or the obligation to provide clear information about the capabilities and limitations of artificial intelligence.
AI is increasingly used in areas such as entertainment (content customization), online commerce (predicting consumer tastes), home appliances (intelligent programming), and electronics (using virtual assistants like Siri or Alexa, among others). .
The European Commission is trying to strengthen cooperation between member states regarding AI, but there is still no common legal framework, so the goal is to move from a voluntary approach to the realm of regulation.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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