Yesterday, February 2nd, 2025, two key provisions of the EU AI Act came into force namely; a ban on the use of certain AI systems and a requirement for AI providers and deployers to ensure those operating AI systems are ‘AI literate’. These provisions are not just the concern of AI developers and users in the EU; UK organisations also have to consider their impact due to the extra territorial nature of the EU AI Act, like the GDPR. For example, where a UK organisation places AI products in the EU or the outputs produced by such AI products are used by persons in the EU.
Prohibited AI Systems
Subject to some limited exceptions, Article 5 of the Act prohibits the placing on the market, the putting into service and the use of AI systems that:
- Deploy subliminal, manipulative, or deceptive techniques that materially distort the behaviour of a person or group of persons by appreciably impairing their ability to make an informed decision;
- Exploit vulnerability characteristics of a person or group of persons (including their age, disability, or socio-economic status) with the aim of materially distorting their behaviour;
- Use social scoring techniques to evaluate or classify a person or group of persons over a period of time based on their social behaviour or known, inferred, or predicted personal or personality characteristics;
- Use profiling techniques or assessment of personality traits and characteristics to predict the risk of criminal behaviour of individuals;
- Create or expand facial recognition databases through untargeted scraping of facial images from the internet or CCTV footage;
- Are used to infer emotions of persons in the workplace or education;
- Are biometric categorisation systems that are used to categorise individuals based on biometric data to deduce or infer race, political opinions, trade union membership, religious or philosophical beliefs, or sex life or sexual orientation; and
- Are biometric real-time identification systems that are used in publicly accessible spaces for law enforcement purposes.
The above are considered by the Act to be practices that are harmful and abusive as well as contradicting EU values, the rule of law, and fundamental rights. The European Commission has now published its Guidelines on Prohibited Artificial Intelligence (AI) Practices.
Breach of Article 5 carries a maximum fine of €35 million or 7% of total worldwide annual turnover (whichever is higher). However, the fining provisions do not come into force until 2nd August 2025.
AI Literacy
Article 4 of the Act contains the requirement for AI literacy. It states
“Providers and deployers of AI systems shall take measures to ensure, to their best extent, a sufficient level of AI literacy of their staff and other persons dealing with the operation and use of AI systems on their behalf, taking into account their technical knowledge, experience, education and training and the context the AI systems are to be used in, and considering the persons or groups of persons on whom the AI systems are to be used.”
AI literacy is about ensuring that employees and decision-makers can critically engage with AI systems. This includes training them on AI risks, biases, and ethical use. Data Protection Officers and compliance professionals also need to develop their understanding of AI so that they can be at the forefront of decisions about its deployment.
The AI literacy requirement applies to all AI systems, regardless of the level of risk they present. Whist there is no specific penalty for a breach of Article 4, it is likely to be taken into account by a regulator when considering what penalties to apply for other breaches the Act.
AI literacy is not just important for compliance with the EU AI Act. Last month, the Prime Minister set out the Government’s plans to use AI across the UK pledging to use AI’s power to ”turbocharge” the economy and improve public services. This requires a workforce that has the understanding of AI, its opportunities and risks as well as the skills to be able to lawfully deploy it.
Do you wish to keep abreast of AI developments? Do you need to sharpen your AI deployment skills? Join our forthcoming AI workshops Artificial Intelligence: How to Implement Good Information Governance and the EU AI Act and UK Approach to Regulation. We can also help with your AI literacy training programme through our in house customised training. Get in touch for a quote.
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