European Parliament Ratifies EU AI Act: Bans Exploitation of Human Vulnerabilities by AI

2024-03-14

The highly anticipated "Artificial Intelligence Act" has been passed by a significant majority in the European Parliament, with 523 votes in favor, 46 votes against, and 49 abstentions. This legislation is considered a major milestone for Europe's development in the field of artificial intelligence, aiming to ensure the healthy and orderly development of AI technology while safeguarding fundamental rights and environmental sustainability. According to reports, the core concept of this act is to strike a balance between innovation and application of AI technology in protecting citizens' rights and maintaining environmental sustainability. The European Parliament states that through this act, Europe will strive to become a global leader in the field of artificial intelligence, leading technological innovation and industrial development. Under the provisions of this act, a series of AI applications that "threaten citizens' rights" will be prohibited. This includes biometric classification systems based on sensitive features, as well as the behavior of indiscriminately extracting facial images from the internet or CCTV recordings to create facial recognition databases. Furthermore, the act also specifies that AI systems manipulating human behavior or exploiting human vulnerabilities will be strictly limited. This act will classify AI products based on their level of risk and implement corresponding review measures. AI applications that pose a "clear risk to fundamental rights" will be prohibited, such as applications involving the processing of biometric data. As for AI systems deemed "high-risk," such as those used in critical infrastructure, education, healthcare, law enforcement, and border management, they will be subject to stricter regulatory requirements. At the same time, low-risk services, such as spam filters, will face a relatively lenient regulatory environment. The European Union expects that the majority of services will fall into this category to encourage innovation and development. It is worth mentioning that this act also pays special attention to the development of emerging technologies such as generative AI tools and chatbots. The act requires producers of so-called general AI systems to maintain transparency in the materials used for training models and comply with EU copyright regulations to ensure the compliance and legality of the technology.