MEPs on the Special Committee on Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the Digital Age (AIDA) debated the report by Axel Voss (EPP, Germany) on the development of AI (see EUROPE 12876/18) on Thursday 10 February, following the hearing of French Secretary of State Cédric O (see other news).
From a technical point of view, only the first chapter and certain points of the second, such as AI in the medical field, have been completed for the moment.
The issues of AI in the context of the ‘Green Deal’, job security, and some of the implications of AI for the ‘ future of democracy’ will still need to be discussed, while the vote on Mr Voss’ report is due to take place on 22 March at the final meeting of the AIDA committee.
“Time is short and there is pressure to compromise. The Liberals have made an effort. It is always the same issues that are the subject of disagreement, such as data protection, whether or not to mention China by name, geopolitical challenges, the issue of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and AI-generated data”, Voss detailed.
On the S&D side, Brando Benifei (Italy) welcomed “the improvements made to the first section” and stressed in the debate the importance of keeping a human-centred approach. At the same time, he said, “a lot of work remains to be done on some key issues for [his] political group”.
For Estonian Renew Europe MEP Andrus Ansip, however, the report should not refer to enforcement. This would be left to the Parliament when it takes up the matter. “Parliament will have to debate how AI can be used in law enforcement. We need to be positive about AI and focus on the facts”, he added.
The issue of regulation for small and medium-sized enterprises also came up several times during the debate. In this respect, it will be important to find the right balance. “We should not over-regulate and burden our companies and SMEs”, said Geert Bourgeois (ECR, Belgium).
Finally, and this partly echoes the approach advocated by the S&D, MEP Pernando Barrena (The Left, Spain) felt that “all the safeguards for the preservation of democracy” had “not yet been obtained”. “We want AI based on higher standards”, he concluded. (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)