The Vienna-based European Union for Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) has warned of the dangers of using artificial intelligence in predictive surveillance, medical diagnostics and targeted advertising. The warnings come as the European Union considers rules supposed to be issued next year to meet the challenges posed by technology.
Law enforcement agencies use artificial intelligence extensively, and rights groups say authoritarian regimes are misusing technology due to mass and discriminatory surveillance. Critics have also criticized the violation of basic individuals’ rights and data privacy rules.
In a report released Monday, the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) urged policymakers to provide more guidance on how to apply the current rules to AI, and to ensure that future AI laws protect basic rights.
Michael O’Flaherty, director of the European Union’s Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA), said in a statement: Artificial intelligence is not infallible, it is made by people, and humans can make mistakes.
This is why people need to be aware of when AI is used, how it works, and how to challenge machine decisions.
The report by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) comes as the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, is studying next year’s legislation to cover so-called high-risk sectors, such as: healthcare, energy, transportation and parts of the public sector.
The agency said: The AI rules should respect all basic rights, with guarantees to ensure this, and include a guarantee that people can challenge decisions made by AI, and that companies need to be able to explain how their systems make AI decisions.
She also said that more research must be done on the potential discriminatory effects of artificial intelligence so that Europe can protect itself from it, and the European Union must clarify how to implement data protection rules through technology.
The FRA report is based on more than 100 interviews with public and private institutions using AI, with analysis based on the uses of AI in Estonia, Finland, France, the Netherlands and Spain.