AI Act: a welcome milestone

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    We welcome the provisional agreement on the Artificial Intelligence Act reached by EU lawmakers. The text enshrines into law several crucial recommendations we made in our opinion of September 2021, such as banning social scoring, irrespective of who performs it. As we stressed back then, there is no place in the EU for such practises.

    I also endorse the agreement on the continuous engagement of organised civil society in future decisions regarding the use of AI, including in the important area of labour relations.

    The EESC was one of the first institutions to put artificial intelligence on the agenda back in 2017 and to call for EU-wide legislation as the best option for Europe. Ever since, we have advocated for a human-in-command approach. But it would be a mistake to think that our job is done now. Collins, the dictionary publisher, has named AI word of the year for 2023, and many other word contests are likely to follow suit.

    This is why artificial intelligence will become the priority of the INT Section and the EESC Observatory of the Digital Transition and the Single Market in 2024. We will focus on how to best put the AI Act into practise while supporting innovations in Europe. But we will also address the controversial issues of generative AI, advanced foundation models and the developments on the labour market. Now we have a solid foundation to build on.

    Sandra Parthie

    President of the EESC Section for the Single Market, Production and Consumption (INT)