POSITION | DIGITAL POLICY | ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Towards innovation-open AI-regulation Evaluation of key industry-relevant elements for the trilogue negotiations on the Artificial Intelligence Act (“AI Act”)
19 September 2023 Increasing Productivity, Preserving European Values – the EU AI Act as the World's First General Regulation of Artificial Intelligence Artificial intelligence will probably influence the entire industry and find applications in most areas of business. AI using technologies may lead to significant productivity gains, help achieve climate targets and combat the shortage of skilled workers. It is therefore all the more important to regulate the uses of the technology in a measured way with little administrative burden, so as not to hinder companies in the application, development and monetizing of AI systems. In devising this legal framework, one key strategic aim should be to improve Europe’s industrial competitiveness by developing a thriving European AI ecosystem that can hold its own on the global stage. Therefore, it is crucial to achieve a fair balance by preserving our EU values and facilitating innovation in the AI Act while preventing overregulation and obligations that could hamper the adoption of AI and innovation in Europe. In April 2021, the European Commission presented the AI Act, a comprehensive proposal for specifically regulating artificial intelligence. This proposal follows a holistic approach to technology regulation. One of the main goals is to categorize AI systems using a single, overarching regulatory framework. Depending on their risks, these systems should be subject to specific requirements and regulations. At the end of 2022, the Council of the European Union agreed on its general approach; in June 2023, the EU Parliament adopted its negotiation position on the AI Act. In light of the ongoing trilogue negotiations between the co-legislators, German industry below details which proposals it would prefer to see incorporated into the final version of the AI Act. These recommendations aim to support the competitiveness of EU based companies while safeguarding the rights of citizens at the same time. Nota bene: This paper takes as a baseline the assumption that only those points that have been raised by any of the three co-legislators have a chance to be included into the AI Act’s final wording. Therefore, we do not flag again those points that we would have appreciated to be changed but rather compare the available three options and outline our preferred one. If none of the proposal texts is somehow acceptable from an industry perspective, we likewise express and justify this position. BDI welcomes the EU's risk-based regulatory approach, but stresses that the criticality pyramid must be maintained in this horizontal set of legislation. Furthermore, we would like to point out the overlaps and occasional contradictions in the AI Act with existing and forthcoming legislation, such as the DSA, Data Act, GDPR, Cyber Resilience Act and sectoral safety regulations. Such contradictions and overlaps should be rectified. Lastly, we would like to point out the need to concretize role definitions along the AI value chain and to establish an even distribution of burdens. Otherwise, there is a risk of harmful ambiguities and compliance difficulties.
Polina Khubbeeva | Digitalisation and Innovation | T: +49 30 2028-1586 | P.Khubbeeva@bdi.eu | www.bdi.eu