Image: © Sergii Figurnyi/Stock.adobe.com
The Commission was unable to reach an agreement on AI liability and plans to assess its future approach.
After more than two years on the table, the European Commission has withdrawn the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Liability Directive after members failed to reach an agreement.
The Directive, which consisted of non-contractual civil liability rules on AI, aimed to provide a clear and comprehensive structure for anyone affected to claim compensation in the event they are harmed by the emerging technology.
For example, this Directive would have simplified pursing legal action for those discriminated against by AI during a job recruitment process.
The proposed rules built on existing ones for manufacturers regarding unsafe product offerings, including a number of different strategies to modernise and adapt liability rules specifically for digital products.
However, in its latest Work Programme published on 11 February, the Commission announced that it is withdrawing the Directive. It said that “no foreseeable agreement” was reached and that the Commission will be assessing its next approach.
Although, the withdrawal won’t change much, said Forrester principal analyst Enza Iannopollo.
“Many are either celebrating or mourning about the decision of the EU to withdraw the proposal for a new AI Liability Directive. Both are out of place.
“The AI Liability Directive was only one piece of the EU AI regulatory framework, which relies on a variety of other pieces of regulation, such as the GDPR and the EU AI Act. The latter is the core of the EU AI regulatory framework and organisations must stay committed to meet its requirements.
“Some of the EU AI Act requirements are already enforceable and more will be in the next few months.”
The AI Liability Directive was initially tabled when the rules around product liability for the region were nearly 40 years old. However, a refreshed Product Liability Directive came into force in late December, which covers the latest technologies, including AI.
Moreover, the EU’s AI Act has been slowly coming into effect over the past few months after entering into force last August. This week, the Commission published non-binding guidelines on prohibited practices, which include banning companies from using an AI system to infer their employees’ emotions or assess a person’s “risk” of committing a criminal offence.
However, the Centre for Democracy and Technology (CDT), a non-profit civil rights organisation released a statement yesterday (12 February) expressing that the Directive’s withdrawal represented a “significant setback” to the protection of victims against AI-induced harm.
“Harms caused by AI systems and models are notoriously difficult to prove, owing to their complexity and lack of transparency. This leaves individuals with limited avenues to seek redress when they suffer harms induced by AI,” said Laura Lazaro Cabrera, CDT Europe’s counsel and director of the Equity and Data Programme.
“[The Directive’s] withdrawal is a departure from European values of transparency and accountability as well as fundamental rights, sending an alarming message that even the most basic procedural safeguards are fair play in the rush to embrace innovation.”
The EU’s withdrawal came on the same day that US vice-president JD Vance criticised the region’s technology regulations at the Paris AI Summit.
He said that restrictions on AI would mean “paralysing one of the most promising technologies we have seen in generations”.
“The Trump administration is troubled by reports that some foreign governments are considering tightening screws on US tech companies with international footprints. America cannot and will not accept that, and we think it’s a terrible mistake,” Vance added.
The Summit mobilised more than €300bn to ramp up AI investment in Europe in a bid to match the US’s funding and looser regulations around AI.
Don’t miss out on the knowledge you need to succeed. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic’s digest of need-to-know sci-tech news.
