The EU AI Act, which we previously reported on, and which entered into force on 1 August 2024, with a plan for staggered implementation of its rules has now implemented the first batch of prohibitions as per the Act.
On 2 February 2025, prohibitions in line with Article 5 of the Act have come into force. Along with these prohibitions, rules around AI literacy have also started to apply. Some of the prohibitions now in force are for AI systems that:
- deploy subliminal techniques beyond a person's consciousness to change the behaviour of a person or a group of persons by appreciably impairing their ability to make an informed decision, and which are likely to cause significant harm
- create or expand facial recognition databases through scraping facial images from the internet or CCTV footage
- infer emotions in the workplace or educational institutions
- evaluate or classify people based on their social behaviour or personal traits leading to unjustified detrimental treatment to certain people/groups
- predict a person's risk of committing a criminal offence by profiling
- categorise people using biometric data to deduce their race, political opinions, trade union membership, religious or philosophical beliefs, or sexual orientation
Some exceptions are present including one for remote biometric identification systems in public spaces for certain law enforcement purposes – such as searching for missing persons, assessment of the involvement of a person in a criminal activity, prevention of genuine and foreseeable terrorist attacks.
Failure to comply with these prohibitions will result in companies being subject to a fine of up to 35 million euros or 7 % of its total worldwide annual turnover for the preceding financial year, whichever is higher.
Given the steep fines, it is vital that companies operating in the EU check their AI practices and keep up to date with the upcoming implementation of the EU AI Act.
The next update with relation to the EU AI Act is expected to be around in May 2025 with the Codes of Practice being released, followed by the next set of prohibitions in August 2025. We will keep reporting the further developments.
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