The compromise on the European Union’s AI Act, negotiated in December, was unanimously approved last Friday by the Committee of Permanent Representatives of the Member States. This deals with a missing prerequisite in order to fulfil the European AI regulation, which the EU Commission, European Parliament and states had been negotiating for two years. In this context, eco – Association of the Internet Industry draws attention to the fact that a true level playing field is needed in Europe, involving harmonised obligations, requirements and standards. Specialised national approaches would lead to a patchwork of regulations and legal uncertainty for companies, thereby stifling innovation.
This requires close and regular dialogue between all those affected, a fact that is especially important with regard to technological developments in the field of AI. The legal framework must remain flexible for new applications. Practical criteria for risk assessment also need to be developed.
At the same time, from eco’s point of view, the German federal government should make use of any possible leeway in the AI Act with regard to real-time biometric surveillance. For AI to be successful, it needs to be accepted by the public. However, the provisions for real-time biometric surveillance in the AI Act increase concerns about jeopardising civil rights and could completely undermine trust in artificial intelligence. The German federal government had ruled out real-time biometric surveillance in its coalition agreement; to avoid losing public trust, it should remain consistent in this regard.
In addition to the current political developments surrounding the AI Act, we report in this issue on a current survey on the use of passwords by the German population, on the Digital Summit of the German Federal Government 2024 and, above all, on the Energy Efficiency Directive and the German Digital Budget.
An exciting read!
