The European Parliament has approved a “historic law” regulating artificial intelligence in the European Union

This Wednesday, the European Parliament approved what it called a “historic law” to regulate artificial intelligence in the European Union (EU), the world’s first law on this technology, designed to protect fundamental rights in the community space.

In a final vote held at a plenary meeting in the French city of Strasbourg, the European Assembly approved the new law with 523 votes in favor, 46 against and 49 abstentions.

Stressing that the new law “guarantees security and respect for fundamental rights while stimulating innovation,” the institution points out in its statement that guarantees of democracy, the rule of law and environmental sustainability are at stake, especially in the face of high risk artificial intelligence (IA).

As such, the regulation establishes a number of obligations for AI based on its potential risks and level of impact, including bans on certain applications, restrictions on the use of biometric identification systems by law enforcement, exceptions applicable to the law, high-risk system obligations, and transparency requirements.

Additionally, the idea is to make the EU a “sector leader” in artificial intelligence, which is why measures are being planned to support innovation and small and medium-sized companies, according to the European Parliament (EP).

This Wednesday’s approval comes after a preliminary agreement reached in mid-December last year and after hours of discussion between EU lawmakers – the Council and the European Parliament – on the world’s first rules for AI.

Since June, fellow legislators (member states and MEPs) have been discussing the first community rules to ensure that technologies using AI protect fundamental EU values ​​and rights, as well as the safety of users, by forcing systems considered high risk to comply with mandatory requirements. requirements related to their reliability, according to a proposal from the European Commission presented in 2021.

This will therefore be the first regulation aimed at AI, although the creators and those responsible for developing this technology are already subject to European legislation on fundamental rights, consumer protection and safety regulations.

Additional requirements, such as human oversight or an obligation to provide clear information about the capabilities and limitations of artificial intelligence, are expected to be introduced to address risks.

AI is increasingly being used in areas such as entertainment (content personalization), online commerce (predicting consumer tastes), home appliances (intelligent programming), and electronic equipment (using virtual assistants such as Siri or Alexa, among others).

The European Commission has tried to strengthen cooperation between member states in the field of AI, but there is still no common legal framework, so the goal is to move from a voluntary approach to a regulatory one.