On January 4th, 2022, the regulation “Provisions on the Management of Algorithmic Recommendations in Internet Information Services” was adopted by China. This text will enter into force on March 1st. It follows an initial draft presented by China’s Cyberspace Administration in August 2021 and it seeks to regulate algorithms, especially those that will be employed for ‘recommendation’ purposes such as those used in search filters, social media, online stores, content services or gig work platforms.
A few weeks ago, the 120 State parties to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) met in Geneve for the 6th Review of the Convention. The discussion about the use of lethal autonomous weapons systems (LAWS) was on the top of the agenda.
From November 30 to December 2nd 2021, the Council of Europe’s Ad hoc Committee on Artificial Intelligence (CAHAI) held its final plenary meeting. In this session, the recommendation on the “Possible elements of a legal framework on artificial intelligence, based on the Council of Europe’s standards on human rights, democracy and the rule of law” was adopted.
On November 24, 2021, during the 41st session of UNESCO’s General Conference, the “Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence” was adopted. This is the first global “standard-setting instrument” that seeks to regulate the use of AI in an ethical way, although some initiatives were taken in the European context. The project came about due to a decision made at the General Conference at its 40th session in 2019.
On September 22nd 2021, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), the Body that represents civil society organisations within the European Union, adopted Catelijne Muller’s Opinion on the EU Commission’s Artificial Intelligence Act (AIA) proposal.
On September 14th and 15th 2021, the Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the European Union hosted a High-Level Conference on Artificial Intelligence entitled “From ambition to Action”.
On September 3rd, 2021, the Garante per la protezione dei dati personali (the GPDP – Italian data protection authority), issued an official request to the local Health authority USL Roma 3, to provide information about its deploying of AI technologies to combat Covid19.
On June 29, 2021, a draft report was presented and adopted by the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) on artificial intelligence in criminal law and its use by the police and judicial authorities in criminal matters.
On June 23, 2021, the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) and European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) shared a joint opinion regarding the European Commission’s AI regulation proposal.
On May 27, 2021, a coalition of civil society groups including Privacy International, the Hermes Center for Transparency and Digital Human Rights, Homo Digitalis and noyb, filed several claims in Europe against the U.S facial recognition firm Clearview AI.
On April 29, 2021, the French Defense Ethics Committee issued an Opinion on the integration of autonomy into lethal weapon systems. Through this work, the Committee aims to establish a clear definition of autonomy and a clear distinction between fully (LAWS) and partially autonomous lethal weapon systems (PAWLS).
On April 16, 2021, the Garante per la protezione dei dati personali, the Italian Data Protection Authority (DPA), issued an unfavourable opinion on the use of the SARI Real Time system by the Ministry of the Interior, a real-time facial recognition system aiming to assist the Police Force in the management of public order and safety.
