EU lawmakers are eyeing risk-based rules for AI, per leaked white paper
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EU lawmakers are eyeing risk-based rules for AI, per leaked white paper
The European Commission is considering a temporary ban on the use of facial recognition technology, according to a draft proposal for regulating artificial intelligence obtained by Euroactiv.
Creating rules to ensure AI is 'trustworthy and human' has been an early flagship policy promise of the new Commission, led by president Ursula von der Leyen.
But the leaked proposal suggests the EU's executive body is in fact leaning towards tweaks of existing rules and sector/app specific risk-assessments and requirements, rather than anything as firm as blanket sectoral requirements or bans.
The leaked Commission white paper floats the idea of a three-to-five-year period in which the use of facial recognition technology could be prohibited in public places - to give EU lawmakers time to devise ways to assess and manage risks around the use of the technology, such as to people's privacy rights or the risk of discriminatory impacts from biased algorithms.
"This would safeguard the rights of individuals, in particular against any possible abuse of the technology," the Commission writes, adding that: "It would be necessary to foresee some exceptions, notably for activities in the context of research and development and for security purposes."
However the text raises immediate concerns about imposing even a time-limited ban - which is described as "a far-reaching measure that might hamper the development and uptake of this technology" - and the Commission goes on to state that its preference "at this stage" is to rely on existing EU data protection rules, aka the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
The white paper contains a number of options the Commission is still con