Europe acts against the threat of a social credit system with new AI rulebook

The European Parliament has voted in favour of document that it describes as the world’s first ever rules for artificial intelligence.

Running to well over 100 pages, the document itself is the usual legalese tome. Mercifully it is decoded and summarised in a press release, facilitating its further simplification here. The powers that be in the EU want to make sure ‘AI systems are overseen by people, are safe, transparent, traceable, non-discriminatory, and environmentally friendly.’ That’s a big ask.

Recent amendments to the rulebook seem to have focused on the non-discriminatory side of things, arguably the most important area as it concerns things like surveillance systems and pre-crime prevention. MEPs amended the document to explicitly ban the following, as listed in the release.

You don’t have to be the most paranoid, tinfoil hat-wearing kook to see how a failure to prevent the above would inevitably lead to the insidious introduction of a dystopian social credit system in which everyone is monitored constantly, with evidence against them constantly gathered and AI used to anticipate the possibility of them transgressing whichever arbitrary rules it’s programmed to enforce.

“Given the profound transformative impact AI will have on our societies and economies, the AI Act is very likely the most important piece of legislation in this mandate,” said MEP Dragoş Tudorache. “It’s the first piece of legislation of this kind worldwide, which means that the EU can lead the way in making AI human-centric, trustworthy and safe.

“We have worked to support AI innovation in Europe and to give start-ups, SMEs and industry space to grow and innovate, while protecting fundamental rights, strengthening democratic oversight and ensuring a mature system of AI governance and enforcement.”

Europe is hoping to lead the way on the incredibly difficult but vital topic of AI ethics with its AI Act. The combination of turbo-charged AI, ubiquitous surveillance, and the fact that we all carry a powerful tracking device with us at all times creates the potential for an unprecedented concentration of power over the population. The sooner the world agrees on robust guard-rails to benignly contain these technologies the better.

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