White Paper on Artificial Intelligence

Key points

The EESC:

• stresses the importance of enhancing investment, infrastructure, innovation and skills;
• urges the Commission to promote a new generation of AI systems that are knowledge-driven and reasoning-based, and that uphold human values and principles;
• calls on the Commission to: (i) foster multidisciplinarity in research; (ii) involve relevant stakeholders in the debate around AI and (iii) keep educating and informing the broader public on the opportunities and challenges of AI;
• urges the Commission to consider in more depth the impact of AI on the full spectrum of fundamental rights and freedoms;
• continues to oppose the introduction of any form of legal personality for AI;
• recommends that the Commission draw up a list of common characteristics of AI applications or uses that are considered intrinsically high risk, irrespective of the sector;
• is of the opinion that the widespread use of AI-driven biometric recognition for surveillance or to track, assess or categorise humans or human behaviour or emotions, should be prohibited;
• advocates early and close involvement of the social partners when introducing AI systems at workplaces and employees that will ultimately be working with the AI system;
• calls on the Commission to assume a leadership role so as to ensure better coordination within Europe of applied AI solutions and approaches used to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

For more information please contact the INT Section Secretariat.