The EU has adopted the AI Act, the first comprehensive legislation for Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the world. This regulation aims to protect businesses and promote the development and use of AI technology. Discover how this regulation can protect you and explore the potential solutions being offered.
The EU will have a profound impact on businesses and organizations across various sectors. With a focus on safety, transparency, traceability, non-discrimination, and environmental friendliness, the legislation aims for the well-being of users and society. It emphasizes the importance of human oversight over automated systems to prevent harmful consequences. Furthermore, the Act seeks a technology-neutral, uniform definition of AI that can be applied to future AI systems, ensuring clarity and consistency in implementation.
Additionally, the AI Act introduces differentiated rules based on the risk level of AI systems. AI systems with unacceptable risk, such as those that manipulate vulnerable groups or engage in social scoring, will be prohibited. High-risk AI systems that could harm safety or fundamental rights will be subject to strict regulations, including mandatory assessments prior to market introduction and ongoing monitoring throughout their lifecycle. AI systems with limited risk must meet minimum transparency requirements, enabling users to make informed decisions when interacting with AI applications.
To comply with the AI Act, businesses and organizations must carefully assess their AI systems and ensure they meet the required standards.
For AI systems with unacceptable risk: Prohibited AI systems that pose a threat to people, such as voice-activated toys that encourage dangerous behavior in children, as well as social scoring systems, such as the classification of individuals based on behavior, socio-economic status, or personal characteristics.
For high-risk AI systems: These systems are divided into two categories: (1) AI systems used in products that fall under EU product safety regulations, such as toys, aviation, and cars, and (2) AI systems that fall under eight specific areas, which must be registered in an EU database. These areas include biometric identification and categorization of natural persons, management and operation of critical infrastructure, education and vocational training, employment, personnel management and access to self-employment, access to and use of essential private services and public services and benefits, law enforcement, migration, asylum and border management, and support for legal interpretation and application of the law.