Comment by Access Now

Perhaps the greatest threat posed by technologies that fall under the umbrella of artificial intelligence comes from their ability to facilitate the mass surveillance of populations. Advances in machine learning in particular have significantly reduced the cost of processing huge amounts of data, including video footage, and have thereby reduced the cost of mass surveillance. However, mass surveillance of populations should never be allowed, no matter how efficient, cost effective or accurate it may become due to technological advances. Mass surveillance constitutes one of the most egregious violations of our fundamental rights and freedoms and technologies that enable it must be banned outright. If the EU truly wants to show leadership in promoting rights-respecting, trustworthy AI, then it must ban the development and deployment of such applications of AI. The EU cannot ‘remain in the race’ with China and the US when it comes to developing mass surveillance technologies and still claim to promote trustworthy AI. Rather, the EU must establish red lines to ban applications of AI which are incompatible with fundamental rights. [...] Finally, we highlight the following applications that should be banned: ● indiscriminate biometric surveillance and biometric capture and processing in public spaces or installed on wearable devices; ● use of AI to solely determine access to or delivery of essential public services (such as social security, policing, migration control); [...] ● use of AI systems at national borders or in testing on marginalised groups, such as undocumented migrants; [...]