Amnesty International is a member of an alliance of civil society organizations coordinated by the European Digital Rights Network that advocates for EU AI regulations prioritizing human rights protections.
Human rights need to be at the heart at the energy transition⬇️https://t.co/GMEiHhNhsL pic.twitter.com/BbjU6xIT2O
— Amnesty Business & Human Rights (@AmnestyBHR) November 22, 2023
According to the CEO of Amnesty International, the debate over AI innovation vs regulation is a “false dichotomy.” According to Anges Callamard, Amnesty’s secretary-general, the EU can lead with new AI legislation, and its member nations should not “undermine” the upcoming AI Act. He stated on Nov. 27 in reaction to three European Union members saying they oppose the regulation of artificial intelligence (AI) models.
France, Germany, and Italy agreed not to implement such harsh requirements for AI foundation models, a vital component of the EU’s upcoming EU AI Act. This comes after the EU received numerous petitions from tech industry members urging regulators not to over-regulate the developing business.
Callamard, on the other hand, stated that the region has an opportunity to demonstrate “international leadership” in AI regulation and that member states “must not undermine the AI Act by succumbing to the tech industry’s claims that adoption of the AI Act will lead to harsh regulation that will stifle innovation.”
“Let us not forget that ‘innovation versus regulation’ is a false dichotomy that has for years been pushed by tech companies in order to avoid meaningful accountability and effective regulation.”
She claims that the tech industry’s language exposes a “concentration of power” by a tiny group of tech companies vying for control of the “AI rulebook.” Human rights violations by AI are “well documented,” according to Callamard, and “states are using unregulated AI systems to assess welfare claims, monitor public spaces, or determine someone’s likelihood of committing a crime.”
“It is imperative that France, Germany, and Italy stop delaying the negotiations process and that EU lawmakers focus on making sure crucial human rights protections are coded in law before the end of the current EU mandate in 2024.”
France, Germany, and Italy were recently included in a new set of guidelines developed by 15 countries and significant tech companies, including OpenAI and Anthropic, that suggest cybersecurity practices for AI developers to follow while designing, building, releasing, and monitoring AI models.
