European Commission Publishes Ethics Guidelines for Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence Lexology

The High-Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence ("AI HLEG"), an independent expert group set up by the European Commission in June 2018 as part of its AI strategy, has published its final Ethics Guidelines for Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence ("AI") (the "Guidelines"). These Guidelines form part of a wider focus by the Commission on AI, with President-elect of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen commenting most recently on July 16, in her proposed political guidelines, that: "In my first 100 days in office, I will put forward legislation for a coordinated European approach on the human and ethical implications of Artificial Intelligence…". The AI HLEG appreciates that AI has the potential to benefit a wide range of sectors and has a wide variety of uses. However, it also acknowledges that the use of AI also brings new challenges and raises various legal and ethical questions. It is with this in mind that the Guidelines have been developed: with a view to providing a framework to achieve and operationalize Trustworthy AI.