Ursula von der Leyen
Photo: European Union

Following lengthy negotiations, the European Parliament and Council on Saturday reached a political agreement on the AI Act, first proposed by the European Commission in April 2021.

The AI Act takes a risk-based approach whereby “minimal risk” systems – which the EU says covers the majority of AI systems – will only be lightly regulated, while “high risk” systems will be strictly regulated and those with “unacceptable risk” will be banned altogether.

AI systems which will be banned include those which “manipulate human behaviour to circumvent users’ free will, such as toys using voice assistance encouraging dangerous behaviour of minors or systems that allow ‘social scoring’ by governments or companies, and certain applications of predictive policing”.

Some uses of biometric systems will also be prohibited, such as “emotion recognition systems used at the workplace and some systems for categorising people or real time remote biometric identification for law enforcement purposes in publicly accessible spaces”, with some exceptions.

In terms of governance, national competent market surveillance authorities will supervise the implementation of the new rules at national level, while the creation of a new European AI Office within the European Commission will ensure coordination at European level.

Commenting on the milestone, Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, said: “The EU’s AI Act is the first-ever comprehensive legal framework on Artificial Intelligence worldwide. So, this is a historic moment.

“The AI Act transposes European values to a new era. By focusing regulation on identifiable risks, today’s agreement will foster responsible innovation in Europe. By guaranteeing the safety and fundamental rights of people and businesses, it will support the development, deployment and take-up of trustworthy AI in the EU.

“Our AI Act will make a substantial contribution to the development of global rules and principles for human-centric AI.”

The political agreement is now subject to formal approval by the European Parliament and the Council. Once entered into force, its provisions will be phased-in over a two-year period.

However, the European Commission has said it will invite AI developers from Europe and around the world to commit on a voluntary basis to implement key obligations of the AI Act ahead of the legal deadlines.