The European Union Proposes New Legal Framework for Artificial Intelligence

On 21 April 2021, the European Commission proposed a new, transformative legal framework to govern the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the European Union. The proposal adopts a risk-based approach whereby the uses of artificial intelligence are categorised and restricted according to whether they pose an unacceptable, high, or low risk to human safety and fundamental rights. The policy is widely considered to be one of the first of its kind in the world which would, if passed, have profound and far-reaching consequences for organisations that develop or use technologies incorporating artificial intelligence. The European Commission's proposal has been in the making since 2017, when EU legislators enacted a resolution and a report with recommendations to the Commission on Civil Law Rules on Robotics. In 2020, the European Commission published a white paper on artificial intelligence.