The EU Parliament wants to tighten the rules around the use of artificial intelligence, AI.
In June, a new bill will be voted on.
– Politics is a little behind, says Swedish EU parliamentarian Tomas Tobé (M).
Just over two years ago, the European Commission presented a legislative proposal on how AI should be regulated. Since then, a lot has happened on the AI front.
– It is important that we get joint legislation in place, but it is also important that it is good.
One of the points that will probably be discussed the most in parliament in the coming time is whether AI should be used for facial recognition in public.
– It is quite an open question. Nobody wants mass surveillance.
Tobé’s and the Moderates’ position is that facial recognition should be able to be used in exceptional cases.
– What is being discussed now, and what we moderates want, is that in airports or train stations, for example, you should be able to use AI in exceptional cases. For example, in the event of a terrible act of terrorism where we need to be able to quickly identify a terrorist, or a kidnapped child.
The proposal that is currently on the table prohibits the police from using this in their law enforcement.
– I think that the vast majority of citizens want the police to be able to be effective in the event of, for example, a terrorist act.
Politics neglected in the area
When the bill was presented two years ago, popular AI services, such as Open AI’s chatbot Chat GPT, had not been as widespread as they are now.
– Politics is a little behind here. It is difficult to find the perfect legislation.
The legislation being discussed now has a somewhat negative view of AI, Tobé thinks.
– Right now we are looking a lot at the shortcomings of AI, but there are also fantastic opportunities. For example in healthcare, where you can now use it to look at X-ray plates or to be able to quickly identify cancer.
He also does not think that the legislation must be too tough so that it slows down development in Europe in the field.
– We want that development to take place in Europe and that we do not, with our legislation, make it happen in other countries. Hopefully we can agree. We’ll see how it goes.