BRUSSELS: The European Parliament on Wednesday approved the Artificial Intelligence Act that ensures safety and compliance with fundamental rights, while boosting innovation.
The regulation, agreed in negotiations with member states in December 2023, was endorsed by MEPs with 523 votes in favour, 46 against and 49 abstentions.
It aims to protect fundamental rights, democracy, the rule of law and environmental sustainability from high-risk AI, while boosting innovation and establishing Europe as a leader in the field. The regulation establishes obligations for AI based on its potential risks and level of impact.
The new rules ban certain AI applications that threaten citizens’ rights, including biometric categorisation systems based on sensitive characteristics and untargeted scraping of facial images from the internet or CCTV footage to create facial recognition databases. Emotion recognition in the workplace and schools, social scoring, predictive policing (when it is based solely on profiling a person or
assessing their characteristics), and AI that manipulates human behaviour or exploits people’s vulnerabilities will also be forbidden.
The use of biometric identification systems (RBI) by law enforcement is prohibited in principle, except in exhaustively listed and narrowly defined situations.’Real-time’ RBI can only be deployed if strict safeguards are met, e.g. its use is limited in time and geographic scope and subject to specific prior judicial or administrative authorisation.
During the plenary debate on Tuesday, the Internal Market Committee co-rapporteur Brando Benifei (S and D, Italy) said: ‘We finally have the world’s first binding law on artificial intelligence, to reduce risks, create opportunities, combat discrimination, and bring transparency. Thanks to Parliament, unacceptable AI practices will be banned in Europe and the rights of workers and citizens will be protected. The AI Office will now be set up to support companies to start complying with the rules before they enter into force. We ens
ured that human beings and European values are at the very centre of AI’s development’.
Source: Emirates News Agency
RAMALLAH: President Mahmoud Abbas tonight received a telephone call from Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, during which they discussed the latest developments in the ongoing Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people, particularly in the Gaza Strip.
The president stressed during the phone call the importance of promptly ending the war of genocide waged by the Israeli occupation against Palestinian civilians.
The President stressed the need to accelerate the introduction of humanitarian, relief and medical aid to the entire Gaza Strip in order to enable shelters and hospitals to fulfill their role of providing what is necessary to alleviate the suffering of citizens there.
The president reiterated Palestine’s categorical rejection of the displacement of any Palestinian citizen, whether in the Gaza Strip or the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, stressing that Gaza is an integral part of the Palestinian State.
He stressed the rejection of separating the Gaza Strip from the rest of the Palestinian te
rritory, including Israel’s plans to reduce or re-occupy any part of its territory.
The President warned of the dangerousness of the ongoing Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, including the imposition of restrictions on the entry of worshippers into the Al-Aqsa Mosque during the holy month of Ramadan, the terrorist crimes committed by colonists against the defenseless Palestinian people, persistence of extrajudicial execution against civilians, the military incursions into Palestinian cities, villages, towns and refugee camps, and the continued colonial expansion and establishment of new colonies.
President Abbas affirmed that peace and security can only be achieved through Palestine’s full UN membership, which shall be set by the decision of the Security Council, an end to the occupation of the state of Palestine, including its capital, East Jerusalem, in accordance with international legitimacy.
The president thanked the Dutch Prime Minister for
his country’s support for the implementation of the two-state solution based on international legitimacy and for its continuous support for the Palestinian people, especially the provision of humanitarian assistance, and its support to UNRWA.
President Abbas also stressed during the call the keenness of the State of Palestine to strengthen bilateral relations between the two countries and friendly peoples.
Source: Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA