Thursday

30th Mar 2023

Opinion

The AI Act should not contain exemptions for 'national security'

Listen to article

It is not rare for the EU Council to be out of touch with public opinion. This has happened once again with the EU AI Act, by exempting AI systems developed or used for 'national security purposes' from oversight and controls. We are looking to the EU Commission and the Parliament to remedy this.

'National security' means different things to different people, lacking a strict, agreed definition. Therefore, any exemption for its sake is vague from the outset and open to abuse. It is highly dependent on national government classifications, which could use their definition to label their citizens or interest groups (e.g. climate protestors) as 'extremist' or 'terrorist'.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

Within the context of using powerful AI tools, such as facial recognition for surveillance, a 'national security' exemption can harm our fundamental rights and freedoms. Surveillance has been already causing a chilling effect on the rights to protest and freedom of speech, as well as being harmful to free and open democracies.

European citizens recognise this threat. In a result from 12 European countries, a representative sample of citizens provided largely unison views on the use of AI by public institutions, especially in the context of national security.

Over half of adults are concerned about the use of AI in national security or defence, and a clear majority (over 70 percent) thought that governments should always respect the rights of all individuals and groups in this context — meaning, without exemptions.

Moreover, nearly two-thirds would feel concerned if another EU country they were travelling to had fewer protections of their rights and freedoms when it comes to the use of AI by secret services — an easily imaginable scenario if this exemption is included

It seems that EU Member States are out of touch with what security means to their citizens. Based on the proposed EU AI Act, any AI systems that would pose a high risk to people's rights (such as AI in the policing and border control context) would need to be developed and used under increased scrutiny and assessment.

The original Commission's proposal did not include specific exemptions regarding AI developed or used for national security purposes, leaving the matter to be clarified under the rules on the division of competence between the EU and Member States.

The Council, however, from its first compromise proposal, indicated that member states want to remove the rules for their use of AI in defence and national security. The Council even expanded that blanket exemption in the latest leaked compromise text to include not only AI systems developed or used for national security purposes in the EU, but also AI systems whose outputs are used in the Union for such purposes — regardless if the actors are public or private bodies.

The Parliament, on the other hand, is likely to side with the people, gearing up to fight the exemptions, as these clearly undermine any built-in prohibitions and safeguards in the EU AI Act.

Banning most intrusive biometric identification in public spaces has little meaning if vague exemptions claimed by national governments can apply in a patchwork of 27 different legal rules across the EU. How Brussels diplomats will explain these 27 regulatory frameworks for national security AI systems to the private sector, already grunting about fragmented rules, remains to be seen. The extension might also have an important impact outside the EU, as governments across the globe look to European regulation as a blueprint.

In our latest legal analysis, ECNL debunked the narrative of Member States' "untouchable national competence" regarding national security issues, favoured by Brussels diplomats.

In fact, CJEU rulings shows there is no inherent conflict between EU internal market regulations and Member States' national security interests. As the EU AI Act will be an internal market regulation, there is no justification to completely exclude systems developed for this purpose from scope.

The commission and parliament must act to stop this exemption from passing into law.

Author bio

Vanja is ECNL’s Program Director overseeing global and EU engagement programmes. She leads the work on securitisation and counter-terrorism / anti-money laundering measures that impact civil society, as well as ECNL’s engagement in digital and artificial intelligence (AI) issues affecting civic freedoms. She is an external PhD candidate on AI and Law at the University of Amsterdam’s Civic AI Lab.

Disclaimer

The views expressed in this opinion piece are the author's, not those of EUobserver.

Magazine

The challenge of artificial intelligence

The fast-growing impact of artificial intelligence will be the biggest challenge for business and consumers in Europe's single market of tomorrow.

Magazine

Forecasting and profiling, or bias and discrimination?

A showdown is likely among MEPs and governments over the EU Commission's proposal on Artificial Intelligence and fundamental rights. The legislation, likely to be agreed next year, will be key in fighting discrimination in the virtual and real world.

Interview

No place for dystopianism in digital EU

What's a credible dystopian nightmare for a leading writer on AI and Big Data? "It's going to be the size of a mosquito and it'll be an aerial drone".

Why do 83% of Albanians want to leave Albania?

As autocracies collapsed across Eastern Europe in the early 1990s, Albanians had high expectations that democracy and a free-market economy would bring a better life. But Albania's transition from dictatorship to democracy has been uneven and incomplete.

The overlooked 'crimes against children' ICC arrest warrant

An unprecedented component of this announcement has received less attention: the ICC also issued an arrest warrant for Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, Putin's commissioner for children's rights. Lvova-Belova is accused of deporting and unlawful transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia.

The overlooked 'crimes against children' ICC arrest warrant

An unprecedented component of this announcement has received less attention: the ICC also issued an arrest warrant for Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, Putin's commissioner for children's rights. Lvova-Belova is accused of deporting and unlawful transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia.

Column

What does China really want? Perhaps we could try asking

Perhaps even more surprising to the West was the fact that the Iran-Saudi Arabia deal was not brokered by the United States, or the European Union, but by the People's Republic of China. Since when was China mediating peace agreements?

Latest News

  1. Firms will have to reveal and close gender pay-gap
  2. Why do 83% of Albanians want to leave Albania?
  3. Police violence in rural French water demos sparks protests
  4. Work insecurity: the high cost of ultra-fast grocery deliveries
  5. The overlooked 'crimes against children' ICC arrest warrant
  6. EU approves 2035 phaseout of polluting cars and vans
  7. New measures to shield the EU against money laundering
  8. What does China really want? Perhaps we could try asking

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. InformaConnecting Expert Industry-Leaders, Top Suppliers, and Inquiring Buyers all in one space - visit Battery Show Europe.
  2. EFBWWEFBWW and FIEC do not agree to any exemptions to mandatory prior notifications in construction
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic and Baltic ways to prevent gender-based violence
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Economic gender equality now! Nordic ways to close the pension gap
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Pushing back the push-back - Nordic solutions to online gender-based violence
  6. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: The Nordics are ready to push for gender equality

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Azerbaijan Embassy9th Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council Ministerial Meeting and 1st Green Energy Advisory Council Ministerial Meeting
  2. EFBWWEU Social Dialogue review – publication of the European Commission package and joint statement of ETUFs
  3. Oxfam InternationalPan Africa Program Progress Report 2022 - Post Covid and Beyond
  4. WWFWWF Living Planet Report
  5. Europan Patent OfficeHydrogen patents for a clean energy future: A global trend analysis of innovation along hydrogen value chains

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us