Tag: EU AI ACT

Prohibited AI Systems under the EU AI Act 

This week we wrote about the first parts of the EU AI Act becoming effective on Sunday. One of these was a ban on prohibited AI systems. These are AI practices that are deemed unacceptable due to their potential risks to European values and fundamental rights. 

Yesterday, the European Commission published its Guidelines on Prohibited Artificial Intelligence (AI) Practices. They specifically address practices such as harmful manipulation, social scoring, and real-time remote biometric identification, amongst others.  
   
It is important to note that the guidelines are in draft and subject to formal approval. Nevertheless they offer valuable insight and should be studied carefully by AI developers and users in the EU and beyond. This includes UK organisations due to the extra territorial nature of the EU AI Act.  

Breach of the Prohibited AI Systems provisions of the EU AI Act 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. 

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.

EU AI Act Published in the EU Official Journal

The EU AI Act was published in the Official Journal last Friday (July 12th 2024) firing the gun for the enforcement countdown.

In summary, the Act sets out comprehensive rules for AI applications, including a risk-based system to address potential threats to health and safety, and human rights. The Act will ban certain AI applications that pose an “unacceptable risk,” including real-time and remote biometric identification systems such as facial recognition. Additionally, it will impose strict obligations on those considered “high risk,” encompassing AI used in EU-regulated product safety categories, for example, cars and medical devices. These obligations include adherence to data governance standards, transparency rules, and the incorporation of human oversight mechanisms. 

For a more detailed guide read the document produced by lawyers Stephenson Harwood.

Here are the key dates for your calendar:

  • August 1st, 2024: The AI Act will enter into force

  • February 2025: Chapters I (general provisions) & II (prohibited AI systems) will apply

  • August 2025: Chapter III Section 4 (notifying authorities), Chapter V (general purpose AI models), Chapter VII (governance), Chapter XII (confidentiality and penalties), and Article 78 (confidentiality) will apply, except for Article 101 (fines for General Purpose AI providers)

  • August 2026: the whole AI Act applies, except for Article 6(1) & corresponding obligations (one of the categories of high-risk AI systems)

  • August 2027 – Article 6(1) & corresponding obligations apply.


Our AI Act workshop will help you understand the new law in detail and its interaction with the UK’s objectives and strategy for AI regulation. 

EU AI Act Approved by European Parliament  

On Wednesday 13th March 2024, the European Parliament approved the text of the harmonised rules on artificial intelligence, the so-called  “Artificial Intelligence Act” (AI Act). Agreed upon in negotiations with member states in December 2023, the Act was endorsed by MEPs with 523 votes in favour, 46 against and 49 abstentions. It aims to “protect fundamental rights, democracy, the rule of law and environmental sustainability from high-risk AI, while boosting innovation and establishing Europe as a leader in the field.” Despite Brexit, UK businesses and entities engaged in AI-related activities will still be affected by the Act if they intend to operate within the EU market. The Act will have an extra territorial reach just like the EU GDPR 

The main provisions of Act can be read here. In summary, the Act sets out comprehensive rules for AI applications, including a risk-based system to address potential threats to health and safety, and human rights. The Act will ban some AI applications which pose an “unacceptable risk”, such as real-time and remote biometric identification systems like facial recognition, and impose strict obligations on others considered as “high risk”, such as AI in EU-regulated product safety categories such as cars and medical devices. These obligations include adherence to data governance standards, transparency rules, and the incorporation of human oversight mechanisms.  

Next steps 

The Act is still subject to a final lawyer-linguist check and is expected to be finally adopted before the end of the legislature (through the so-called corrigendum procedure). It also needs to be formally endorsed by the Council of Europe. 

The Act will enter into force twenty days after its publication in the official Journal, and be fully applicable 24 months after its entry into force, except for: bans on prohibited practises, which will apply six months after the entry into force date; codes of practise (nine months after entry into force); general-purpose AI rules including governance (12 months after entry into force); and obligations for high-risk systems (36 months after entry into force). 

Influence on UK AI Regulation 

The EU’s regulatory approach will impact the UK Government’s decisions on AI governance. An AI White Paper was published in March last year entitled  
“A pro-innovation approach to AI regulation”. The paper sets out the UK’s preference not to place AI regulation on a statutory footing but to make use of “regulators’ domain-specific expertise to tailor the implementation of the principles to the specific context in which AI is used.” In January 2024, the ICO launched  a consultation series on Generative AI, examining how aspects of data protection law should apply to the development and use of the technology. It is expected to issue more AI guidance later in 2024. 

Our AI Act workshop will help you understand the new law in detail and its interaction with the UK’s objectives and strategy for AI regulation.