The Ethical and Legal Framework

In these pages, we focus on the European framework only, mostly relying on two main sources, which are described below and in the linked pages.

The first document, at least chronologically speaking, we refer to is the Ethical Guidelines for Trustworthy AI [1], which, as the name itself suggests is not a law or a legal obligation. Nevertheless, it is commonly recognized as the most relevant document in the field of Trustworthy AI. Here, as we already mentioned, there are listed a definition of Trustworthy AI, the foundation of Trustworthy AI, the seven key requirements that AI systems should implement and meet throughout their entire life cycle, and a concrete assessment list to operationalize the requirements.

Then, the other fundamental source is the world’s first comprehensive law on Artificial Intelligence (AI): the EU AI Act [2]. The text provides a classification of AI systems using a risk-based approach; four levels of risk were identified, and different obligations are listed for the different categories of AI systems to be compliant with this law.

1

High-Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence. Ethics Guidelines for Trustworthy AI. URL: https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/library/ethics-guidelines-trustworthy-ai (visited on 2024-04-23).

2

Artificial Intelligence Act, European Parliament legislative resolution of 13 March 2024 on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on laying down harmonised rules on Artificial Intelligence (Artificial Intelligence Act) and amending certain Union Legislative Acts (COM(2021)0206 – C9-0146/2021 – 2021/0106(COD)), P9_TA(2024)0138. 2024. URL: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-9-2024-0138_EN.pdf (visited on 2024-04-23).

This entry was written by Francesca Pratesi and Umberto Straccia.