Artificial Intelligence Meets European Union Law: The EU Proposals of April 2021 and October 2020

Abstract

In April 2021 and October 2020, the European Commission and European Parliament unveiled groundbreaking draft legislations towards a framework for trustworthy Artificial Intelligence (AI). First, the proposed AI Act requires risky AI providers to comply with several standards before they can place their system on the market. Second, it has been acknowledged that autonomous systems pose a challenge to conventional liability rules. Consequently, at the European level, a new draft regulation on liability rules was initiated. Both proposals follow a first-of-its-kind policy that outlines how companies are allowed to use AI and what consequences should be enforced if an AI system causes harm to third parties. The broad scope of the initiatives will have an impact on numerous companies even outside the borders of the EU. However, the approaches are a direct challenge to the view that law should leave emerging technology alone. It is important to recognize that regulating AI is subject to the inherent trade-off between slowing down the development process of the technology and establishing desirable quality parameters. This contribution concludes that the crucial issue will be to tie the two proposals together. A joint use of liability and regulation strategies can be a great aid in enhancing overall efficiency for the usage of AI.

Keywords: Artificial Intelligence, Risk-based, Artificial Intelligence Act, standardization, regulation, Torts, Strict Liability

JEL Classification: K00, K13, K20