Artificial Intelligence Policymaking in the European Union: Fundamental Principles, Governance Mechanisms and Ethical Principles

Document Type : Review Article

Author

Assistant Professor of Social Communication, Department of Cyberspace Studies, Research Center For Culture, Art And Communications, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

This article's primary focus is AI policymaking in the European Union. For this purpose, one examined the foundations, approach, and mode of governance and emphasized ethical principles. Focusing on the EU can be vital as this region is a pioneer in regulating emerging digital technologies and platforms. The European Union is trying to regulate artificial intelligence technologies and companies providing artificial intelligence services through its legislation and policies. The article analyzed the content of documents related to artificial intelligence in Europe using the document analysis approach and qualitative content analysis. This article showed that considering the fundamental principles, formulating a general approach, considering ethical principles, and devising a governance system appropriate to each society's background conditions is necessary for applying artificial intelligence for national interests and reducing its potential risks.

Keywords


  1. AI Act Texts. (2023). EU Artificial Intelligence Act. Retrieved March 10, 2024, from https://artificialintelligenceact.eu/the-act-texts/
  2. Bradford, A. (2023). Digital Empires: The Global Battle to Regulate Technology. Oxford University Press.
  3. Calo, R., & Crawford, K. (2020). The US Should Adopt a More European Approach to Regulating AI. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2020/03/the-u-s-should-adopt-a-more-european-approach-to-regulating-ai
  4. Cath, C., Wachter, S., Mittelstadt, B., Taddeo, M., & Floridi, L. (2018). Artificial Intelligence and the 'Good Society': The US, EU, and UK Approach. Science and Engineering Ethics, 24(2), 505-528. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-017-9901-7
  5. Chamberlain, J. (2023). The Risk-Based Approach of the European Union’s Proposed Artificial Intelligence Regulation: Some Comments from a Tort Law Perspective. European Journal of Risk Regulation, 14(1), 1–13. doi:10.1017/err.2022.38
  6. Coeckelbergh, M. (2022). The Political Philosophy of AI. Polity Press.
  7. Council of the European Union. (2023, December 9). Timeline - Artificial intelligence. https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/policies/artificial-intelligence/
  8. Dafoe, A. (2018). AI Governance: A Research Agenda. Governance of Dual-Use Technologies: Theory and Practice, 19-41. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198841864.003.0003
  9. Daly, A., Hagendorff, T., Li, H., Mann, M., Marda, V., Wagner, B., Wang, W. W., & Witteborn, S. (2019). Artificial Intelligence, Governance and Ethics: Global Perspectives. The Chinese University of Hong Kong Faculty of Law Research Paper No. 2019-15, University of Hong Kong Faculty of Law Research Paper No. 2019/033. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3414805
  10. Darpa, I. (2003). DARPA Grand Challenge: Results. https://www.darpa.mil/about-us/timeline/-grand-challenge-for-autonomous-vehicles
  11. Darpa, I. (2003). DARPA Grand Challenge: Results. https://www.darpa.mil/about-us/timeline/-grand-challenge-for-autonomous-vehicles
  12. Dentons. (2023, December 14). The New EU AI Act – The 10 key things you need to know now. Retrieved March 10, 2024, from https://www.dentons.com/en/insights/articles/2023/december/14/the-new-eu-ai-act-the-10-key-things-you-need-to-know-now
  13. Elliott, A. (2022). Making Sense of AI: Our Algorithmic World. Oxford University Press.
  14. Engler, A. (2023). The EU and U.S. diverge on AI regulation: A transatlantic comparison and steps to alignment. Brookings Institution. United States of America. Retrieved from https://policycommons.net/artifacts/4140126/the-eu-and-us-diverge-on-ai-regulation/4948949/
  15. Ernst & Young. (2023). The European Union Artificial Intelligence Act. Retrieved March 10, 2024, from https://assets.ey.com/content/dam/ey-sites/ey-com/en_gl/topics/artificial-intelligence/ey-the-european-union-artificial-intelligence-act.pdf
  16. Ertel, W. (2010). Introduction to Artificial Intelligence. Undergraduate Topics in Computer Science. Springer.
  17. European Commission (2021). White Paper on Artificial Intelligence - A European approach to excellence and trust. https://commission.europa.eu/publications/white-paper-artificial-intelligence-european-approach-excellence-and-trust_en
  18. European Commission (2024) AI Act (Shaping Europe’s digital future), European Commission, https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/regulatory-framework-ai#:~:text=The%20European%20AI%20Office%2C%20established,dignity%2C%20rights%2C%20and%20trust
  19. European Commission. (2020, February 18). White paper on artificial intelligence - A European approach to excellence and trust. https://commission.europa.eu/publications/white-paper-artificial-intelligence-european-approach-excellence-and-trust_en
  20. European Commission. (2021). Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down harmonized rules on artificial intelligence (Artificial Intelligence Act). COM (2021) 206 final. Retrieved from https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52021PC0206&from=EN
  21. European Commission. (2021, April 21). Q&A on Artificial Intelligence. https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/api/files/document/print/en/qanda_21_1683/QANDA_21_1683_EN.pdf
  22. European Commission. (2021b, April 21). Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on a European approach for Artificial Intelligence (COM(2021) 206 final). https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52021PC0206&from=EN
  23. European Commission. (2023, February 19). A European approach to artificial intelligence | Shaping Europe's digital future. https://www.digitaleurope.org/news/joint-statement-lets-give-ai-in-europe-a-fighting-chance/
  24. European Commission. (2023, February 19). A European approach to artificial intelligence | Shaping Europe's digital future. https://www.eitdigital.eu/fileadmin/2022/ecosystem/makers-shapers/reports/EIT-Digital-Artificial-Intelligence-Report.pdf
  25. European Parliament. (2023). Artificial intelligence act. Retrieved March 10, 2024, from https://www.europarl.europa.eu/legislative-train/theme-a-new-push-for-european-democracy/file-artificial-intelligence-act
  26. European Parliament. (2023, June 1). EU AI Act - First regulation on artificial intelligence. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/topics/en/article/20230601STO93804/eu-ai-act-first-regulation-on-artificial-intelligence
  27. European Parliament. (2023, June 1). EU AI Act - First regulation on artificial intelligence. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/topics/en/article/20230601STO93804/eu-ai-act-first-regulation-on-artificial-intelligence
  28. Executive Office of the President of the United States. (2020). Guidance for Regulation of Artificial Intelligence Applications. https://www.whitehouse.gov/ai/guidance-for-regulation-of-artificial-intelligence-applications/
  29. Floridi, L., & Cowls, J. (2019). A Unified Framework of Five Principles for AI in Society. Harvard Data Science Review, 1(1). https://doi.org/10.1162/99608f92.f7b6282a
  30. Gasser, U., & Almeida, V. (2017). A Layered Model for AI Governance. IEEE Internet Computing, 21(6), 58-62.
  31. Gates, B. (2023, January 12). Bill Gates is meh on Web 3 and the metaverse, but bullish on AI. Business Insider. https://www.businessinsider.com/bill-gates-reddit-ama-ai-not-metaverse-revolutionary-chatgpt-2023-1
  32. Hagendorff, T. (2020). The Ethics of AI Ethics: An Evaluation of Guidelines. Minds and Machines, 30(1), 99-120. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11023-020-09517-8
  33. Hendler, J. (2008). The state of artificial intelligence: An interview with James Hendler. IEEE Intelligent Systems, 23(3), 2-4.https://doi.org/10.1109/MIS.2008.48
  34. Hsu, J. (2022, December 28). EU's Artificial Intelligence Act will lead the world on regulating AI. New Scientist. https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg25634192-300-eus-artificial-intelligence-act-will-lead-the-world-on-regulating-ai/
  35. ISACA. (2023, June 14). The EU AI Act: Adoption Through a Risk Management Framework. ISACA. https://www.isaca.org/resources/news-and-trends/industry-news/2023/the-eu-ai-act-adoption-through-a-risk-management-framework
  36. Jobin, A., Ienca, M., & Vayena, E. (2019). The global landscape of AI ethics guidelines. Nature Machine Intelligence, 1(9), 389-399. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42256-019-0088-2
  37. Jordan, M. I., & Mitchell, T. M. (2015). Machine learning: Trends, perspectives, and prospects. Science, 349(6245), 255-260. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaa8415
  38. Kazemi, A., & Motalebi Korbekandi, H. (2021). Challenges and opportunities of artificial intelligence for superior governance. In Proceedings of the third national conference and the first international conference on superior governance (pp. 8-18). Retrieved from https://governanceschool.ir/file/download/download/1655281695-1172.pdf?language=fa
  39. Laux, J., Wachter, S., & Mittelstadt, B. (2023). Trustworthy artificial intelligence and the European Union AI act: On the conflation of trustworthiness and acceptability of risk. Regulation and Governance, 18(1), 3-32
  40. LeCun, Y., Bengio, Y., & Hinton, G. (2015). Deep learning. Nature, 521(7553), 436-444.
  41. Lyle, K. (2023, March 5). AI and Product Safety Standards Under the EU AI Act. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Retrieved March 10, 2024, from https://carnegieendowment.org/2023/03/05/ai-and-product-safety-standards-under-eu-ai-act-pub-88795
  42. Mason Hayes Curran. (2023, February 14). EU AI Act: Risk Categories. MHC.ie. https://www.mhc.ie/latest/insights/the-eu-ai-act-imaging-and-diagnostics-2
  43. Müller, V. C. (2020). Ethics of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics. In E. N. Zalta (Ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2020 Edition). https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2020/entries/ethics-ai/
  44. Pandectes. (2024, January 22). What are the risk levels in the EU AI Act? Pandectes. https://pandectes.io/blog/what-are-the-risk-levels-in-the-eu-ai-act/
  45. Pourezzat, A. A et al. (2019). The return of rationality: Application of artificial intelligence in governance and public policy. Administrative Studies and Researches, 3(2), 8-18.
  46. Radu, R. (2019). Negotiating Internet Governance. Oxford University Press.
  47. Radu, R. (2021). Steering the governance of artificial intelligence: national strategies in perspective. Policy and Society, 40(2), 178-193. https://doi.org/10.1080/14494035.2021.1929728Roberts, H., Cowls, J., Morley, J., Taddeo, M., Wang, V., & Floridi, L. (2021). The Chinese Approach to Artificial Intelligence: An Analysis of Policy, Ethics, and Regulation. AI & Society, 1-19.
  48. Sharma, A., & Kumar, M. (2020). Artificial Intelligence: Concepts, Methodologies, and Applications. In: Sharma, A. & Kumar, M. (eds.). Introduction to Artificial Intelligence (pp. 1–23). Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-2830-5_1
  49. Sharma, G. D., Yadav, A., & Chopra, R. (2020). Artificial intelligence and effective governance: A review, critique and research agenda. Sustainable Futures, 2, 100004. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sftr.2019.100004
  50. State Council of the People's Republic of China. (2017). A Next Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Plan. http://www.gov.cn/zhengce/content/2017-07/20/content_5211996.htm
  51. Stix, C. (2022). The Ghost of AI Governance Past, Present, and Future: AI Governance in the European Union. In J. B. Bullock et al. (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of AI Governance. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780197579329.013.56
  52. Stone, P., Brooks, R. A., Brynjolfsson, E., Calo, R., Etzioni, O., Hager, G. D., ... & Teller, A. (2016). Artificial Intelligence and Life in 2030. One Hundred Year Study on Artificial Intelligence, Stanford University. http://ai100.stanford.edu/2016-report
  53. Taeihagh, A. (2021). Governance of artificial intelligence. Policy and Society, 40(2), 137-157. https://doi.org/10.1080/14494035.2021.1928377
  54. West, D. M. (2022). Six steps to responsible AI in the federal government: An overview and recommendations from the U.S. experience. Brookings. https://www.brookings.edu/research/six-steps-to-responsible-ai-in-the-federal-government/
  55. Zhang, Y., & Wildemuth, B. M. (2005). Qualitative Analysis of Content. Retrieved March 10, 2024, from https://www.ischool.utexas.edu/~yanz/Content_analysis.pdf