European Union liability rules for artificial intelligence

Last week, the European Commission released a proposal for an Artificial Intelligence Liability Directive (AILD). It forms the next step in the development of a legal framework for AI.

In its white paper, published in 2020, the Commission undertook to promote the uptake of artificial intelligence and to assess the risks. Later, in 2021, the Commission proposed a legal framework which aimed to “address the risks generated by specific uses of AI through a set of rules focusing on the respect of fundamental rights and safety.”

One of the objectives of the 2020 white paper was to formulate a proposal for an AI liability directive. The purpose of this proposal is to “to contribute to the proper functioning of the internal market by harmonising certain national non-contractual fault-based liability rules, so as to ensure that persons claiming compensation for damage caused to them by an AI system enjoy a level of protection equivalent to that enjoyed by persons claiming compensation for damage caused without the involvement of an AI system.”

You can read the proposed directive in full here.

Find out more

• Proposal for a Directive on adapting non contractual civil liability rules to artificial intelligence – pdf document.
• Impact assessment – Proposal for a Directive on adapting non contractual civil liability rules to artificial intelligence – pdf document.
• Executive summary of impact assessment – Proposal for a Directive on adapting non contractual civil liability rules to artificial intelligence – pdf document.
• European Commission white paper on AI.
• Article on the 2021 legal framework.

Lucy Smith is Senior Managing Editor for AIhub.

Lucy Smith is Senior Managing Editor for AIhub.