Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1517430
6 NEWS 14.3.2024 MEPs adopt landmark law on Artificial Intelligence ON Wednesday, the European Parlia- ment approved the Artificial Intelli- gence Act that ensures safety and com- pliance with fundamental rights, while boosting innovation. e regulation, agreed in negotiations with member states in December 2023, was endorsed by MEPs with 523 votes in favour, 46 against and 49 abstentions. It aims to protect fundamental rights, democracy, the rule of law and environ- mental sustainability from high-risk AI, while boosting innovation and estab- lishing Europe as a leader in the field. e regulation establishes obligations for AI based on its potential risks and level of impact. Banned applications e new rules ban certain AI appli- cations that threaten citizens' rights, including biometric categorisation sys- tems based on sensitive characteristics and untargeted scraping of facial imag- es from the internet or CCTV footage to create facial recognition databases. Emotion recognition in the workplace and schools, social scoring, predictive policing (when it is based solely on pro- filing a person or assessing their char- acteristics), and AI that manipulates human behaviour or exploits people's vulnerabilities will also be forbidden. e use of biometric identification systems (RBI) by law enforcement is prohibited in principle, except in ex- haustively listed and narrowly defined situations. "Real-time" RBI can only be deployed if strict safeguards are met, e.g. its use is limited in time and geographic scope and subject to specific prior judicial or administrative authorisation. Such uses may include, for example, a targeted search of a missing person or preventing a terrorist attack. Using such systems post-facto ("post-remote RBI") is considered a high-risk use case, requiring judicial authorisation being linked to a criminal offence. Obligations for high-risk systems Clear obligations are also foreseen for other high-risk AI systems (due to their significant potential harm to health, safety, fundamental rights, environ- ment, democracy and the rule of law). Examples of high-risk AI uses include critical infrastructure, education and vocational training, employment, es- sential private and public services (e.g. healthcare, banking), certain systems in law enforcement, migration and border management, justice and democratic processes (e.g. influencing elections). Such systems must assess and reduce risks, maintain use logs, be transparent and accurate, and ensure human over- sight. Citizens will have a right to sub- mit complaints about AI systems and receive explanations about decisions based on high-risk AI systems that af- fect their rights. Transparency requirements General-purpose AI (GPAI) systems, and the GPAI models they are based on, must meet certain transparency requirements, including compliance with EU copyright law and publishing detailed summaries of the content used for training. e more powerful GPAI models that could pose systemic risks will face ad- ditional requirements, including per- forming model evaluations, assessing and mitigating systemic risks, and re- porting on incidents. Additionally, artificial or manipulated images, audio or video content ("deep- fakes") need to be clearly labelled as such. Regulatory sandboxes and real-world testing will have to be established at the national level, and made accessible to SMEs and start-ups, to develop and train innovative AI before its placement on the market. 'The EU has delivered' During the plenary debate on Tuesday, the Internal Market Committee co-rap- porteur Brando Benifei (S&D, Italy) said: "We finally have the world's first binding law on artificial intelligence, to reduce risks, create opportunities, com- bat discrimination, and bring transpar- ency. He said that thanks to the legisla- tion, unacceptable AI practices will be banned in Europe and the rights of workers and citizens will be protected. "e AI Office will now be set up to support companies to start complying with the rules before they enter into force. We ensured that human beings and European values are at the very cen- tre of AI's development," Benifei said. Civil Liberties Committee co-rappor- teur Dragos Tudorache (Renew, Roma- nia) said that the EU had delivered on its promises. "We have linked the concept of arti- ficial intelligence to the fundamental values that form the basis of our socie- ties," he said. "However, much work lies ahead that goes beyond the AI Act it- self. AI will push us to rethink the social contract at the heart of our democra- cies, our education models, labour mar- kets, and the way we conduct warfare. e AI Act is a starting point for a new model of governance built around tech- nology. We must now focus on putting this law into practice." Next steps e regulation is still subject to a final lawyer-linguist check and is expected to be finally adopted before the end of the legislature (through the so-called corri- gendum procedure). e law also needs to be formally endorsed by the Council. It will enter into force 20 days after its publication in the official Journal, and be fully applicable 24 months after its entry into force, except for: bans on pro- hibited practises, which will apply six months after the entry into force date; codes of practise (nine months after en- try into force); general-purpose AI rules including governance (12 months after entry into force); and obligations for high-risk systems (36 months). This article is part of a content series called Ewropej. This is a multi-newsroom initiative part-funded by the European Parliament to bring the work of the EP closer to the citizens of Malta and keep them informed about matters that affect their daily lives. This article reflects only the author's view. The action was co-financed by the European Union in the frame of the European Parliament's grant programme in the field of communication. The European Parliament was not involved in its preparation and is, in no case, responsible for or bound by the information or opinions expressed in the context of this action. In accordance with applicable law, the authors, interviewed people, publishers or programme broadcasters are solely responsible. The European Parliament can also not be held liable for direct or indirect damage that may result from the implementation of the action. "AI will push us to rethink the social contract at the heart of our democracies, our education models, labour markets, and the way we conduct warfare."