Comprehending the EU AI Act: How the Act is tackling artificial intelligence inside the EU?
The EU AI Act
The EU AI Act is a proposed regulatory framework by the European Union aimed at ensuring the safe and ethical development, deployment, and use of artificial intelligence technologies across member states. Introduced by the European Commission in April 2021, the Act seeks to create a uniform legal and ethical standard for AI applications, addressing potential risks while fostering innovation. It groups AI systems into four risk categories—unacceptable, high, limited, and minimal—and lays out certain standards and responsibilities for each. Detail as follows:
- Unacceptable Risk: AI systems used for social scoring by governments, which evaluate and rate individuals’ trustworthiness based on their social behavior. Such systems can lead to unfair discrimination and erosion of privacy.
- High Risk: AI applications in healthcare, such as AI-driven diagnostic tools that analyze medical images to detect diseases like cancer. These systems must comply with stringent regulations to ensure accuracy and safety.
- Limited Risk: AI-powered chatbots used in customer service. While not inherently dangerous, they must inform users that they are interacting with an AI and not a human, ensuring transparency and proper usage.
- Minimal or No Risk: AI systems used in video games for character development or game progression. These applications have minimal impact on users’ rights and safety, hence requiring the least regulatory oversight.
There are some prohibited practices that aren’t allowed to be processed in Euro, such as emotion recognition, social scoring, biometric categories, etc.
The overarching goal of the EU AI Act is to balance the promotion of technological advancement with the protection of fundamental rights and public safety.
Author: Chalisa Veesommai Sillberg
References:
- European commission. 2021. Proposal for a REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL, LAYING DOWN HARMONISED RULES ON ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE ACT) AND AMENDING CERTAIN UNION LEGISLATIVE ACTS. Brussels, 21.4.2021 COM(2021) 206 final. Available at: https://artificialintelligenceact.eu/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/The-AI-Act.pdf (Accessed: Jun 3, 2024).
- Harjuveläinen K. 2024. AI Act & Scientific Research [PowerPoint slide]. Tampere University.
Fun fact: this blog post was assisted by an AI. Here’s to the wonders of technology!