‘Setting the standard’: EU unveils plan to rein in risky AI uses

The proposal would ban AI in ‘social scoring’ systems that judge people based on behaviour and physical traits.

European Union officials unveiled proposals Wednesday for reining in high-risk uses of artificial intelligence (AI) such as live facial scanning that could threaten people’s safety or rights. The draft regulations from the EU’s executive commission include rules on the use of the rapidly expanding technology in systems that filter out school, job or loan applicants. They also would ban artificial intelligence outright in a few cases considered too risky, such as “social scoring” systems that judge people based on their behaviour and physical traits. The ambitious proposals are the 27-nation bloc’s latest move to maintain its role as the world’s standard-bearer for technology regulation, putting it ahead of the world’s two big tech superpowers, the United States and China. EU officials say they are taking a “risk-based approach” as they try to balance the need to protect rights such as data privacy against the need to encourage innovation.