After a preleminary initiative was announced in January 2021, the European Digital Rights (EDRi) organisation and 55 others sent a new letter to Didier Reynders (European Commissioner for Justice) on April 1st, 2021 to support their demand for a specific ban on biometric mass surveillance technologies.

Over the past few weeks, the Council of Europe, the Strasbourg-based organisation that promotes and protects human rights, democracy and the rule of law, has been raising awareness about the risks of using AI enabled technologies and preparing a draft proposal for ensuring adequate AI regulation.

On March 12, 2021, the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) opened a public consultation about their new guidelines on Virtual Vocal Assistants (VVA) which were adopted on March 9, 2021.

On March 9, 2021, the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) adopted version 2.0 of its guidelines – On processing personal data in the context of connected vehicles and mobility related applications following a period of public consultation that ended in May 2020.

The French government issued a decree on March 10, 2021 authorising automated analysis of the rate of compliance with the obligation to wear a mask on public transport

On Thursday 18, 2020, the President of the CNIL issued a warning to a sports club who were considering using a facial recognition system to stop people with stadium bans from attending their games.

The Swedish DPA fines the police authorities for their use of facial recognition. Employees from two services were using Clearview AI’s App.

On January 28, 2020, The Council of Europe (CoE) adopted a new set of guidelines on facial recognition addressed to governments, legislators and businesses. The guidelines were developed by the Consultative Committee of the Council of Europe, after a 7-year process, that resulted in the updating of Convention 108

On January 20, 2020, the Legal Affairs Committee of the European Parliament (EP) adopted a resolution which includes new guidelines for the use of artificial intelligence (AI) for civil and military use.

The Ad Hoc Committee on Artificial Intelligence of the Council of Europe adopted their first feasibility study on a legal framework on AI.

On December 7, 2020, the European Commission (EC) registered and approved a request for a European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) entitled Reclaim Your Face: Ban Biometric Mass Surveillance.

On December 14, 2020, during their online conference entitled “Doing AI the European way: Protecting fundamental rights in an era of artificial intelligence”, the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) presented their new report : Getting the future right – Artificial intelligence and fundamental rights.

On December 10, 2020, the Legal Affairs Committee of the European Parliament (EP) adopted new guidelines on the use of AI for military purposes and its use in the health and justice sectors.

On November 27, 2020, Brigadier-General Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, the head of the Iranian military’s nuclear program, was shot and killed in a convoy outside Tehran.

On December 2, 2020, the President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, officially presented one of the fundamental proposals of the Spain Digital Plan 2025 launched last July and one of the most principal components of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan for the Spanish economy; the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy.

On November 19, 2020, the United-Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) Centre for AI and Robotics released its latest collaborative report on Malicious Uses and Abuses of Artificial Intelligence

On November 17, 2020, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in the White House released a “Memorandum for the heads of executive departments agencies” to provide “guidance to all Federal agencies to inform the development of regulatory and non-regulatory approaches regarding technologies and industrial sectors that are empowered or enable by artificial intelligence (AI) and consider ways to reduce barriers to the development and adoption of AI technologies”.

It is the ALICEM application’s use of biometric data that has been challenged by an association at the French Supreme Administrative Court and a decision has just been announced.

On April 1st -2nd, 2021, a colloquium will take place on Artificial Intelligence and Normative Challenges: International and Comparative Legal Perspectives, organised by The Faculty of Law at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and the Kalliopi Koufa Foundation for the Promotion of International and Human Rights Law, with the support of the European Society of International Law (ESIL).

On October 22, 2020, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (CoE) adopted a provisional version of Resolution 2356 (2020) Legal aspects of “autonomous” vehicles.

On October 22, 2020, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted a provisional version of Resolution 2342 (2020) Justice by algorithm – the role of artificial intelligence in policing and criminal justice systems.

With 2021 shaping up to be a decisive year for EU Regulation of AI, the public debate on this particular issue is already well underway.

On October 20, 2020, the EP adopted three resolutions on a framework of ethical aspects of artificial intelligence, a civil liability regime for AI and a response to intellectual property rights challenged by these systems.

On October 9, 2020, the CNIL (French Data Protection Authority) clarified its position on the use of facial recognition technology at airports, providing useful guidance for French airports’ managers and service providers in their experimentation of FRTs.

On September 2020, the cities of Amsterdam and Helsinki launched the Algorithm and AI Register, an “overview of AI systems and algorithms used by the City”

According to an article by Politico on 8 October 2020, 14 EU Member States sent an unofficial document to the European Commission asking it not to over-regulate artificial intelligence.

On September 28th, 2020, the European Parliament Research Service (EPRS) released a new European added value assessment (EAVA) on the ethical aspects of AI.

On September 2020, UNESCO published a new report entitled Artificial Intelligence and Gender Equality: key findings of UNESCO’s Global Dialogue

On September 25th, 2020, the European Parliament Research Service (EPRS) released a new study on Civil Liability Regime for AI was released.

The Council of Europe’s Ad Hoc Committee on Artificial Intelligence unveiled its roadmap after its meeting on 23 September 2020.

On September 9th, 2020, the Consort-AI extension provided guidelines for clinical trial reports for interventions involving AI.

UNIDIR published a new report on the predictability and understandability in Military AI: the Black Box Unlocked.

The document is a first step to prepare future discussions between Member States which should occur in 2021. The framework envisaged in this document is based on a set of values and principles that should be implemented in different policy areas.

On September 21st, 2020, the Legislature of the City of Buenos Aires has started a debate to regulate the implementation of facial recognition systems in public spaces.

The European Commission published a report made by an independent group of experts on the Ethics of Connected and Automated Vehicles (CAVs).

On September 1st, 2020, (UNIDIR) published a new report on Modernizing arms control, Exploring Responses to the Use of AI in Military-Decision-Making.

On September 9, 2020, the Portland City Council voted to ban facial recognition. The new law is actually established as two ordinances, which ban both public and private use of the technology.

On September 7th, 2020, the French DPA (CNIL) published its White Paper on the Ethical, Technical and Legal challenges of vocal assistants.

On August 21st 2020, HLEGAI released their new deliverable on the sectoral considerations on the policy and investment recommendations for Trustworthy AI.

On August 18, 2020, the London High Court handed down its judgment on appeal in the so-called “Bridges” case.

On July 2020, the Government of New Zealand published a new Charter applying to government agencies when using algorithms

On July 17th 2020, the European Commission’s High Level Expert Group on AI presented their final Assessment List for Trustworthy Artificial intelligence (ALTAI).

On 1st of July, The European Data Protection Supervisor, Wojciech Wiewiórowski, called for a moratorium on facial recognition in public places.

On June 25, 2020, the UN (UNECE) published new UN regulations on Cybersecurity and Software Updates for connected vehicles.

On June 24th, 2020, CAHAI published a report on entitled “the Impact of AI on Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law”

On July 16th 2020, the UK Government launched a call for views on its proposals for regulating consumer smart product cyber security

On June 10, 2020, Amazon announced that the company was “putting in place a one-year moratorium on police use of Amazon’s facial recognition technology”.

AI Regulation Chair Researchers have prepared and submitted a detailed contribution to the European Commission’s consultation on the AI White Paper.

Initiated by France and Canada, the Partnership also includes Australia, the European Union, Germany, India, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, Slovenia, the United Kingdom and the United States of America.

On May 21st, 2020, the United Kingdom’s Data Protection Authority (ICO) with the Alan Turing Institute published new guidance on ‘Explaining decisions made with AI’.

On February 28, 2020, the The Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission has published its “AI WATCH: Defining Artificial Intelligence” report, including an operational definition of AI and taxonomy AI taxonomy.

As reported on the website Engadget.com, the legislative assemblies of the State of Washington found a compromise on a final text on March 12, 2020.

On March 12th, 2020, Standards Australia published an ‘Artificial Intelligence Standards Roadmap: Making Australia’s Voice Heard’.

Council of Europe’s released new guidelines and recommendations on the human rights impacts of algorithms systems and automation.

On April 9, 2020, an investigation found that the most popular connected cars in Europe from Ford and Volkswagen still have serious flaws that can “put your security, privacy and even your safety at risk”.

This new report is the most recent product of the collaboration on AI between INTERPOL and UNICRI on responsible AI Innovation

on February 2020, US Department of Defense (DOD) adopts five Principles of Artificial Intelligence Ethics.

On March 2nd, 2020 the World Economic Forum published a white paper: “A Framework for Responsible Limits on Facial Recognition. Use Case: Flow Management”.

On February 25,2020, the Consumer Technology Association launched the “first-ever industry-led standard for AI in health care”.

On February 26, 2020, EPIC submitted a complaint to the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) about Airbnb’s secret customer-scoring algorithm

On February 27, 2020, the OECD launched the OECD Policy Observatory on AI, an online platform to share and shape public policies for AI.

On a short comment published on Nature Machine Intelligence, British researchers argued for “advancing impact assessment for intelligent systems”.

Towards a European mega-database for facial recognition shared with third countries? It’s the wish of some EU countries, led by Austria

The European Commission released its White Paper on AI, followed by a suite of other papers on the EU’s digital strategy.

The Spanish Agency for Data Protection (AEPA) published on February, 13th 2020 a first guide for the adequacy to regulation (EU) 2016/679 (on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data) of products and services that include and use artificial intelligence components.

EU Parliament asked for “a fair and safe use” of AI for consumers in a resolution approved on February 12, 2020. They asked for more information.

Digital Identity in Irelande Ireland: a Public Services Card will create a secure access to public services but also a database with biometric data.

EPBD released guidelines focusing on personal data processing in the context of connected vehicules and mobility related apllications.

The French DPA, has issued formal notices to two electricity supply companies for non-compliance with GDPR on their connected meters practices.

The EU Data Protection Authority published on 29 January 2020 a guide to explain the compliance of facial recognition processing with the GDPR.

US government released a memorandum, providing “Guidance for Regulation of Artificial Intelligence Applications”, which applies to narrow AI

On 16th January 2020, European Tech Alliance (EUTA) launched an open letter asking policymakers not to take a one-size-fits-all approach regarding new-technologies. On

In April 2019, the French Armed Forces Minister set out France’s main priorities and ambitions in the field of AI: the AI Task Force Report.