“France spearheads member state campaign to dilute European AI regulation”

Governments successfully lobby for freedom to surveil citizens in public spaces, target border areas with AI systems and exploit predictive policing algorithms, internal documents obtained by Investigate Europe reveal.

In a matter of days governments across the EU will have the power to deploy AI-powered technologies that track citizens in public spaces, conduct real-time surveillance to monitor refugees in border zones and use facial recognition tools against people based on their suspected political affiliations or religious beliefs.

These are just some of the loopholes and national security exemptions forced through in the European Artificial Intelligence Act, the world’s first set of laws targeting the sector. The legislation is designed to mitigate the myriad bias and privacy fears surrounding the use of AI technologies and algorithms, with the EU saying the law will create “an AI ecosystem that benefits everyone.”

But several controversial parts of the regulation will take effect from 2 February 2025, thanks in part to secret lobbying by France and a host of European states. Internal documents obtained from the negotiations by Investigate Europe reveal member states successfully campaigned to dilute the measures, giving police and border authorities, among others, greater freedoms to covertly monitor citizens…