Vice-President Margrethe Vestager confirmed, on Tuesday 27 October, the European Commission’s intention to no longer define “high-risk” applications of artificial intelligence (AI) through two criteria, but to stick to the sole criterion of use. The Dane spoke to the members of the European Parliament’s Committee on the Internal Market in the morning and to the Special Committee on AI in the afternoon.
Discussions focused on two issues, on which Parliament has just adopted a position: legislation on the Digital Services Act (DSA) and Digital Market Access (DMA), both scheduled for 2 December, and the future rules on artificial intelligence, announced for 2021.
AI: risk definition and facial recognition
On the latter aspect, the Vice-President indicated that the public consultation on artificial intelligence, which finished before the summer, had revealed many concerns about the dual approach chosen by the Commission. In its White Paper, the Commission proposed applying stricter rules to applications in a particular sector and linked, in that sector, to a particular use (see EUROPE 12429/5). “We took note of this and thought that perhaps we should focus on cases of use where there is a risk of discrimination”, she said. “We need to work with categories”, she continued, adding that the Commission is currently considering how to update the list of cases of use. She also indicated that other applications, such as on toys or in machinery, required a “lighter touch, if any at all”.
Part of the discussion also focused on a possible moratorium on facial recognition in the public space, which in the end does not appear in Parliament’s resolution despite the efforts of the GUE/NGL group (see EUROPE 12585/4). Invited to take a position, the Vice-President replied that the EU already had a “de facto” moratorium on such biometric technologies. “Access to use of AI for surveillance in public space is so restricted due to the General Data Protection Regulation; you need a national legal basis to be able to do it, when you have it, you need to be proportionate, it needs to be necessary”, she stressed.
Digital Services Act
Earlier in the morning, Margrethe Vestager had referred to the Commission’s preparations on DSA and DMA, welcoming the avenues put forward by Parliament (see EUROPE 12585/3). Notably, she has taken a position on Commissioner Thierry Breton’s comments on the dismantling of platforms and anonymity on the Internet. “About freedom, it’s even more important to identify yourself, with an identity which has the same quality of a passport. It’s important that platforms know their customers. That leaves space for people to engage in anonymous way on some social media”. On dismantling, she called for caution. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean, with the help of Lionel Changeur)