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.

This Study discusses extensively the concept of “European Digital Sovereignty”. It presents the opportunities opened by the concept but also the risks and pitfalls.

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 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 2020, the French Ministry of the Interior published a White Paper on internal security. The fourth part of the paper addresses the role of AI in internal security.

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”.

In October 2020 the European Parliament issued three Resolutions on the ethical and legal aspects of Artificial Intelligence software systems. However, all three Resolutions are adamant on not providing AI software systems with legal personality.

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 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.