“Today is a historic day.” This Tuesday, the Internal Market and Civil Liberties committees of the European Parliament have approved with 71 votes in favor and only eight against the agreement reached on December 9 that will shape the first law on artificial intelligence (AI) of the world.
“It will serve to protect European Union citizens from the uses of AI and pave the way for a humanistic vision of this technology,” said Italian MEP Brando Benifei, rapporteur of the text, before proceeding to the vote.
The one known as the AI Act categorizes the uses of AI according to their risks, prohibits those that could lead to the manipulation of Europeans and fixes more or less strict rules for the other cases.
Two controversies
Two of the aspects that have generated the most tensions between the countries of the EU have been the regulation of generative systems such as ChatGPT or Gemini (Google) and biometric surveillance. In the first case they will be forced to comply with transparency criteria to avoid possible copyright violations.
The second is more difficult, since the law opens the door to limited use of facial recognition systems by the police and army, something that worries civil society organizations.
The ‘yes’ adopted today in the committees was a procedure, but a crucial one. Nevertheless, It is not the definitive one. The legislative process will culminate in the final vote of the European Parliament, scheduled for the plenary session on April 10 or 11. The formal adoption of this pioneering law will culminate when all 27 Member States endorse and adapt it.