Commission signed the Council of Europe Framework Convention on Artificial Intelligence and human rights, democracy and the rule of law

On September 5, 2024, The European Commission Vice-President for Values and Transparceny, Věra Jourová signed the Council of Europe Framework Convention on Artificial Intelligence and human rights, democracy and the rule of law on behalf of the European Union. This was done during the informal conference of Ministers of Justice of members states of the Council of Europe in Vilnius, Lithuania.

This Convention is the first legally binding international instrument on artificial intelligence. It is fully compatible with Union law in general, and the EU AI Act in particular, which is the first comprehensive AI regulation globally.

The EU, represented by the Commission, and with the support of Member States, participated very actively in the negotiations of this Convention. The convention is consistent with the EU AI Act as well as with other European Union law and includes a number of key concepts of the AI Act such as:

  • a focus on human-centric AI, consistent with human rights, democracy, and rule of law
  • a risk-based approach
  • key principles for trustworthy AI (e.g. transparency, robustness, safety, data governance and protection)
  • transparency for AI-generated content and in interactions with AI systems
  • strengthened documentation, accountability and remedies
  • support to safe innovation through regulatory sandboxes
  • risk management obligations
  • documentation obligations
  • oversight mechanisms for supervision of AI activities

 

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