The European Parliament, currently gathered in Strasbourg for the monthly plenary session, has entered a week devoted to artificial intelligence (AI). Today, on 13 June, the European policymakers will discuss the final amendments to the report drafted by the jointly responsible IMCO-LIBE Committees, after which the Parliament is set to vote on the text as a whole tomorrow, on 14 June.
The AI Act, which seeks to lay down harmonised rules for the use of AI, follows a risk-based approach where providers of AI systems will be subject to certain obligations based on the degree of risk that their system(s) pose on individuals. As such, the last months have been characterised by heated debates regarding which types of AI systems and use cases that should fall under the different categories of risk, such as high-risk AI systems and unacceptable risk AI systems, the latter referring to a complete prohibition of such systems.
In line with this, the MEPs involved in the negotiations have introduced several changes to the Commission proposal, including expanding the list of prohibited AI practices to “real-time” remote biometric identification systems, predictive policing, and emotion recognition, which thus could result in a blanket ban on AI-aided facial recognition in mass surveillance systems.
Although the four main political groups in the Parliament agreed back in April that they would not table any alternative amendments, as the Committees were nearing a final compromise, the Parliament’s largest political group, the European People’s Party (EPP), decided on June 7 to table separate amendments to soften the ban on facial recognition by introducing derogations for exceptional cases which would allow for such AI-aided identification techniques.
Expanded scope of high-risk AI might include online recommender systems
Aside from biometric identification causing a lot of stir among policymakers, recent discussions have also revolved around expanding the scope of high-risk AI systems and use cases. For instance, MEPs also want to include AI systems used to influence voters, as well as AI recommender systems used on online platforms on the list of high-risk AI systems. Especially the latter constitutes a concern for Ecommerce Europe, as search recommendations AI systems are a commonly used technique within the digital commerce sector. Moreover, these systems are not deemed to cause neither material, physical nor psychological harm, and we do therefore not consider that such systems should be subject to the strict obligations that fall on actual high-risk AI systems.
Ecommerce Europe has previously called on policymakers to be careful when classifying AI systems falling under the high-risk category, as the original text proposed by the European Commission appeared to capture all AI systems used within certain high-risk products or industries, independently of how that AI system would be used in a particular context, and whether said use would create a material risk of harm.
While the MEPs in charge of the negotiations have since then introduced provisions, allowing providers falling under one or more of the high-risk AI areas and use cases to avoid having to meet the obligations, if they can substantiate why their AI system does not pose a significant risk, we have yet to see the final outcome of these provisions and to what extent they will affect European businesses operating within the sphere of e-commerce.
If the European Parliament rubberstamps its position during tomorrow’s vote, a preliminary inter-institutional meeting will take place immediately thereafter in order to launch the technical work of the trilogues. The first political trilogue is then expected to take place on 18 July, once Spain has taken over the Council Presidency, with a second trilogue meeting to follow on 26 September. The Spanish government has already emphasised that the adoption of the AI Act will be a key priority during their presidency, and they therefore have great ambitions of reaching a final agreement on the legislation by October.
If you have any questions or wish to know more about the topic, please feel free to contact us at info@ecommerce-europe.eu.