AI in Europe: not all decisions can be reduced to ones and zeros, says the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC).
In two reports on draft EU legislation on artificial intelligence, the EESC calls for an all-out ban on social scoring in the EU and for a complaint and redress mechanism for people who have suffered harm from an AI system.
At its September plenary, the EESC welcomed the proposed Artificial Intelligence Act (AIA) and Coordinated Plan on AI.
Social scoring and redress: there is the rub
Weaknesses in the proposals are, amongst others, to be found in the area of „social scoring”, in the EESC’s view. The Committee flags up the danger of this practice gaining currency in Europe as it is doing in China, where the government can go so far as to deny people access to public services.
The draft AIA does include a ban on social scoring by public authorities in Europe, but the EESC would like to see it extended to private and semi-private organisations to rule out such uses as, for instance, to establish whether an individual is eligible for a loan or a mortgage. The EESC sees no place in the EU for scoring the trustworthiness of its people based on their social behaviour or personality characteristics, regardless of who is doing the scoring.