European Lawmakers Approve Landmark Artificial Intelligence Regulation
European Parliament committees approve a groundbreaking AI Act that bans biometric surveillance and emotion recognition while establishing risk-based rules. The legislation aims to create the world's first comprehensive framework for safe and ethical artificial intelligence.
European Parliament committees officially back the world's first comprehensive rules for artificial intelligence, bringing the AI Act closer to final passage. The Internal Market Committee and the Civil Liberties Committee adopt a draft negotiating mandate with an overwhelming majority, establishing strict transparency and risk-management requirements. Lawmakers design the legislation to ensure that all AI systems remain safe, traceable, non-discriminatory, and environmentally friendly while maintaining a technology-neutral definition to accommodate future innovations.
The proposed framework relies on a risk-based approach that strictly prohibits AI systems posing an unacceptable threat to public safety. Lawmakers expand the ban list to include intrusive applications like real-time remote biometric identification in public spaces, predictive policing algorithms, and emotion recognition tools used in law enforcement or education. The updated mandate also outlaws social scoring, manipulative subliminal techniques, and the indiscriminate scraping of biometric data from social media or surveillance cameras.
In addition to the bans, the regulation introduces tailor-made regimes for general-purpose AI and foundation models like GPT. The new rules guarantee citizens the right to file complaints about AI systems, ensuring human oversight over machine-driven processes. As negotiations move forward, this ambitious legislation sets a global benchmark for balancing technological advancement with fundamental human rights and ethical standards.