European Parliament on Wednesday (Mar 13) approved rules to regulate artificial intelligence (AI) – the world’s first framework for managing AI amid concerns that the technology may endanger humans.
The regulation was agreed in negotiations with member states in December 2023. Now, it has been endorsed by MEPs with 523 votes in favour, 46 against and 49 abstentions.
Reports have mentioned that the European Council is scheduled to formally approve the law in May, hence it will be fully operational 24 months after it goes into effect.
It aims to defend fundamental rights, democracy, the rule of law, and environmental sustainability from high-risk AI, and more.
An official statement mentioned that it would also be fostering innovation and promoting Europe as a leader in the field.
The statement mentioned, “The new rules ban certain AI applications that threaten citizens’ rights, including biometric categorisation systems based on sensitive characteristics and untargeted scraping of facial images from the internet or CCTV footage to create facial recognition databases.”
The Internal Market Committee co-rapporteur Brando Benifei (S&D, Italy) said during the plenary debate on Tuesday: “We finally have the world’s first binding law on artificial intelligence, to reduce risks, create opportunities, combat discrimination, and bring transparency.”
“[This is] the first regulation in the world that is putting a clear path towards a safe and human-centric development of AI,” he said.
Benifei noted that the move by the Parliament will help in banning unacceptable AI practices in Europe and protect the rights of workers and citizens will be protected.
He added that the 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 centre of AI’s development,” Benifei added.
(With inputs from agencies)
