The European Union yesterday took the first step to achieve legislation for the use of artificial intelligence that places the focus on the protection of human rights. The text coordinated by the speakers Drago? Tudorache and Bruno Benifei maintained its ambitious approach to the control of technology, especially the surveillance through real-time facial recognition in public spaces, which the European People’s Party (EPP) wanted to amend , without success, to establish exceptions such as the disappearance of children or the crimes of terrorism.
The approval of the proposal, which received 499 votes in favor, 28 against and 93 abstentions, opens since yesterday an intense three-way negotiation, between the Chamber itself, the Council – in which the governments participate – and the European Commission. These last two institutions will consider applying police exceptions to restrictions such as facial identification.
The guarantor character of the legislative proposal in the protection of privacy contrasts with the requests of the security forces of the member countries. The president of the Eurochamber, Roberta Metsola, assured that “looking to the future, we will need constant and clear borders and limits for artificial intelligence”. “And here is something on which we will not compromise – he added -. Every time technology advances, it must go hand in hand with our fundamental rights and democratic values”.
The main points of friction in the negotiation will be aspects such as the use of AI for police control, but the deputies who have worked on the proposal know that they now have a very considerable voting mandate. “Today’s result gives us an even stronger position”, said Bruno Benifei, one of the speakers of the text. “It is clear that the Parliament does not want us to go back on issues as important as avoiding mass surveillance”, he added.
“We have taken seriously the interests of society and our citizens in terms of privacy. And that’s why we’ve gone a step further than the Commission and removed the exclusions for law enforcement, but without ceasing to think about security”, said Drago? Tudorache, the other speaker. The parliamentarian pointed out that the text includes “that biometric identification can continue to be used with due judicial authorization right after”, and not in real time.
“If there’s a terrorist attack on the street right now, or if the police have received a tip that a child is missing, surveillance footage can already be obtained, under current laws and with court authorization, biometric identification can be used”, observed this deputy.
One of the innovative elements of the proposal is that the law establishes obligations for AI operators based on their degree of risk. Thus, any system that can manipulate the behavior of vulnerable groups such as children, or those that prepare a “classification of people based on their behavior, socio-economic status or personal characteristics”, will be considered “unacceptable”.
Within the “high risk” AI systems are considered those that affect security and fundamental rights. Generative AIs, like ChatGPT’s, will have to disclose content that has been generated with their technology, avoid content that is illegal, and publish copyright information.
The Commission hopes to reach an agreement for the artificial intelligence law by the end of the year. Entry into force, however, won’t come until at least early 2026. The first proposal to regulate AI came out of the Executive in 2021.
