EU proposes stringent rules for high-risk uses of AI with aim to ensure data privacy

EU on Wednesday proposed strict rules to regulate the high-risk uses of artificial intelligence (AI) technology such as facial scanning and fingerprint scanning on gadgets. The 27-nation bloc adopted the "risk-based approach” as officials intended to balance the need to protect the rights of the citizens by ensuring data privacy and online security, all the while making the technological advancements hand in hand. EU's executive commission on April 21 introduced a draft regulation in the parliament to control the data compromise due to the rapidly expanding futuristic technology. 

The EU cited a few instances such as “social scoring” and systems using manipulative human behaviour techniques, wherein the country’s new rules will provide the customer's protection. The new protocol seeks to ban the “remote biometric identification,” such as live facial recognition in public places, and label the chatbots and deepfakes for maintaining transparency for the customers. The draft regulation was introduced for the applications, identified as high risk by the EU lawmakers, such as AI systems used by the people to find jobs, get loans etc. 

“It can be a case where a toy uses voice systems to manipulate a child into doing something dangerous,” Margrethe Vestager, the European Commission's executive vice president for the digital age, told a media briefing. “Such uses have no place in Europe and therefore we propose to ban them.”

As the EU seeks to outcompete the two biggest world superpowers US and China with its AI regulatory bill, it is yet to gain unanimous approval from the European Parliament and the European Council to convert legislation into the law. Therefore, this explains that the bill could also be most likely amended. Under its AI proposal, the EU will recognise manipulating behaviour, exploiting children’s vulnerabilities or using subliminal techniques as offensive. 

“With these landmark rules, the EU is spearheading the development of new global norms to make sure AI can be trusted,” Vestager said in a statement, accessed by The Associated Press.  “By setting the standards, we can pave the way for to ethical technology worldwide and ensure that the EU remains competitive along the way,” she added. 

Russia's war with Twitter

Earlier, similarly, Russia’s internet regulators slowed the speed of social networking site Twitter and threatened to block it completely over not removing the banned content from the platform. Russia’s telecom, IT, and communications supervisory agency Roskomnadzor alleged that the firm has failed to take significant actions despite repeated warnings. In its verbal threats to Twitter, Russia’s state censor Roskomnadzor said on the website that Twitter “maliciously violated Russian law” by failing to take down tweets and information that violated government’s protocols. Roskomnadzor alleged that the tech giant Twitter has failed to take down at least 2,862 posts out of a total of 28,000 removal requests sent to the firm since 2017. The banned content included nearly 2,336 posts relating to suicide, 352 posts containing pornographic images of minors, and 174 posts with information about drug manufacture and use, the agency said on the website.