More than sixty civil society organisations - including Amnesty International, Access Now and EDRi - co-signed a letter on Thursday 28 September calling on the co-legislators to ensure that legislation on artificial intelligence (AI) (see EUROPE 13254/32) fully complies with the rule of law in terms of transparency, accountability and access to justice.
The signatories believe that “the misuse of AI systems, including their opaque and unaccountable deployment by public authorities, poses a serious threat to the rule of law”. They call for fundamental rights impact assessments to be “an obligation for all those deploying high-risk AI technologies” to ensure that democratic values are respected.
“The fact that public authorities, including law enforcement agencies, should carry out impact assessments is not just a recommendation, but a necessary safeguard”, add the organisations.
In addition, the document calls on the European Parliament negotiators to oppose and reject the amendment to Article 2 proposed by the Council of the EU, which aims to exclude AI systems developed or used for national security purposes from the scope of the legislation.
The inter-institutional negotiations (‘trilogues’) on artificial intelligence are continuing. Negotiators from the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union will meet again on 2 and 3 October in Strasbourg, alongside the plenary session, for a third trilogue (see EUROPE 13253/4).
See the letter: https://aeur.eu/f/8sq (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)