On Tuesday 8 May, the VoteWatch reflection organisation published an analysis of MEPs' positions on artificial intelligence and robotics, in the follow-up to the resolution for an initiative adopted during the February 2017 plenary session.
This analysis is based on the positions of the different political groups on the own-initiative resolution adopted in plenary session in February 2017 (see EUROPE 11727). It highlights the main points in the European strategy for artificial intelligence (see EUROPE 12009) and the commitment made by 24 member states in a joint declaration (see EUROPE 11998).
VoteWatch particularly examined the MEPs' points of view on the European artificial intelligence registration system, a tax on robots, the introduction of a universal income and a legal status for robots.
It should be recalled that the European strategy has announced guidelines for the end of 2018 on ethics and interpretive orientations on the directive relating to liability for defective products (85/374), in an attempt to respond to concerns expressed on responsibility in this context.
Ethical questions
With regard to these questions, VoteWatch points out that more than half of all MEPs (51%) agree with the need to introduce a legal status for electronic persons and for robots in the long-term.
More specifically, 46% of MEPs are opposed to this status (Greens/EFA, the Italian Democrat Party which is a member of the S&D, ALDE, ECR and the ENF), while the EPP is divided on the subject. The majority of EPP members are in favour of creating a legal status for robots but the group's Croatian, Czech, Dutch and Spanish delegations, as well as half of the members in the German CDU, voted against the initiative.
With regard to the question of liability for action by autonomous robots, the majority of MEPs (74%) agree on the need for a new framework that provides a sense of legal responsibility for the different actors concerned by the actions of autonomous robots.
The ALDE and ECR groups, as well as certain Italian, German and Croatian members of the EPP, in addition to the Italian League and Dutch Freedom Party (ENF), are opposed to introducing a new framework for defining responsibility for acts and omissions by robots.
Please see the following link for the analysis: https://bit.ly/2wwozhN. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)