AI Act: EU Parliament's discussions heat up over facial recognition, scope

EU lawmakers held their first political debate on the AI Act on Wednesday (5 October) as the discussion moved to more sensitive topics like the highly debated issue of biometric recognition. The AI Act is a landmark EU legislation intended to regulate Artificial Intelligence introducing a series of obligations proportional to the potential harm of the technologies' applications. So far, the co-rapporteurs of the European Parliament, the social democrat Brando Benifei and the liberal Dragoș Tudorache, have limited the discussion to the more technical aspects, hoping to build momentum before addressing the more political hurdles. This approach was not without its successes since the file progressed in several parts. In the meeting, the MEPs formally agreed on the first two batches of compromises on administrative procedures, conformity assessment, standards, and certificates.