European Union AI laws prohibit AI-based social assessment systems and any biometric tools used to guess a person’s race, political leanings, or sexual orientation.
Brussels: Lawmakers of the European Union on Wednesday approved a major law regulating artificial intelligence (AI), limiting its use by European companies and organizations in almost everything from health care decisions to law enforcement.This is the first law to introduce blanket bans on some “unacceptable” uses of the technology and rigid barriers on various applications considered as “high-risk” applications.
What Does This Law Signify?
The legislation, backed by a substantial majority in the European Parliament, introduces stringent regulations governing the deployment of AI systems. Under the new framework, high-risk AI applications, such as those used in healthcare, transportation, and law enforcement, will undergo thorough scrutiny and adhere to strict transparency and accountability standards.
European Union AI laws prohibit AI-based social assessment systems and any biometric tools used to guess a person’s race, political leanings, or sexual orientation. It also prohibits the use of artificial intelligence to interpret human emotions in schools and workplaces, as well as certain types of automated profiling designed to predict a person’s likelihood of committing a crime in the future.
Limitations On ‘High-Risk’ Uses Of AI
As per the reports of ANI, this law highlights a separate category for “high-risk” uses of artificial intelligence, especially in education, recruitment, and access to public services, and imposes particular transparency and other obligations on the businesses that create strong, complex, and extensively used artificial intelligence models, such as OpenAI, which are also subject to the new legal disclosure standards.
Additionally, it mandates that every deepfake produced by artificial intelligence be properly labeled, focusing on media manipulation that can cause misinformation and meddle in elections.
Moreover, the law addresses worries about biased algorithms and privacy invasions by enforcing strong safeguards to defend fundamental rights and stop discrimination in AI systems. The Act seeks to establish confidence and guarantee that AI technologies serve society’s best interests by placing a higher priority on human oversight and accountability systems.
When Will It Be Implemented?
The key legislation will come into effect in two years. This further highlights the speed of the European Union’s policymakers, who have responded to the explosive popularity of tools like OpenAI ChatGPT. The legislation passed by the European Parliament’s plenary session this week stems from a proposal first presented in 2021 that gave lawmakers a lead when the release of ChatGPT fueled an investment boom and public frenzy.
(With inputs from ANI)