Background information
EU: draft law promoting facial recognition – what does this mean?
by Florian Bodoky
AI Act: The European rulebook for artificial intelligence has been adopted
14.3.2024
Translation: machine translated
The so-called AI Act is introduced. The aim is to improve the regulation of artificial intelligence in the European Union. Parliament and the EU member states have agreed on this. However, there is still criticism of individual points in the law.
The vote was clear: 523 members of parliament voted in favour of the bill, with only 46 against. This is somewhat surprising, as the draft law leaked at the end of January caused red flags in Parliament. It granted the member states significantly more rights in terms of biometric surveillance than they had been granted in the previous negotiations.
You can find out more about the AI Act and this debate in this article:
Biometric surveillance remains the bone of contention
However, the ban on biometric surveillance is still causing a stir: security authorities are to be allowed to use retrospective biometric remote surveillance under certain circumstances. Critics criticise the fact that the law does not clearly define what exactly is meant by the term "retrospective". This could also include fractions of a second - in effect, this would be tantamount to real-time surveillance, which is actually prohibited.
The law will now come into force in mid-April with an official announcement in the Official Journal. The EU member states will then have six months to withdraw prohibited A.I. systems from circulation. A further twelve months are planned for the adaptation of the new regulations for "general A.I. systems", and 36 months for "high-risk" A.I. systems. It could therefore be years before the law is implemented from A to Z.
I've been tinkering with digital networks ever since I found out how to activate both telephone channels on the ISDN card for greater bandwidth. As for the analogue variety, I've been doing that since I learned to talk. Though Winterthur is my adoptive home city, my heart still bleeds red and blue.
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