Human rights in the legislative proposal on artificial intelligence

Question for written answer  E-001154/2021
to the Commission
Rule 138
Sandra Pereira (The Left)

The Commission is preparing to present a legislative proposal on artificial intelligence (AI).

Many sections of society have rallied to raise awareness of the dangers and merits that the use of AI technologies may entail in the future and about how it will transform social relations in a very wide range of spheres of human activity.

The use of AI technologies could be subject to appropriate criteria and these tools may even be useful for promoting peace, solidarity and development among peoples and for creating and distributing wealth and fostering well-being in the population as a whole.

However, despite these technologies’ huge potential with regard to human development and the construction of a fairer society, the action that the EU has so far taken or planned in this area raises considerable and serious concerns about the use of AI in civilian and military areas.

• 1.How does the Commission plan to ensure that its legislative proposal takes into account and effectively safeguards the human rights enshrined in the UN human rights conventions to which Member States are signatories?
• 2.Is it considering banning research into and/or the development and application of AI technologies that undermine basic human rights, including the right to life and the right to work with rights?