Artificial Intelligence ban slammed for failing to address "vast abuse potential" - Malwarebytes Labs

A written proposal to ban several uses of artificial intelligence (AI) and to place new oversight on other "high-risk" AI applications--published by the European Commission this week--met fierce opposition from several digital rights advocates in Europe. Portrayed as a missed opportunity by privacy experts, the EU Commission's proposal bans four broad applications of AI, but it includes several loopholes that could lead to abuse, and it fails to include a mechanism to add other AI applications to the ban list. It deems certain types of AI applications as "high-risk"--meaning their developers will need to abide by certain restrictions--but some of those same applications were specifically called out by many digital rights groups earlier this year as "incompatible with a democratic society." It creates new government authorities, but the responsibilities of those authorities may overlap with separate authorities devoted to overall data protection. Most upsetting to digital rights experts, it appears, is that the 107-page document (not including the necessary annexes) offers only glancing restrictions on biometric surveillance, like facial recognition software.