As noted in our note from 12 Dec 2023 on the European AI Act Trilogue negotiations, there will still be the need for a critical “monitoring” by the public and the civil society until the final text and the implementation of the Act. The “final” version is now available (through a leak) and will most likely be formally adopted by EU ambassadors on Feb 2nd.

As expected, there are some critical points in relation to the “reported” results of the negotiations and therefore also a critical discussion of them. Some points on the probably fixed remote biometric identification / RBI (for other equally important concerns and also for more details see Comments on the Final Trilogue Version of the AI Act or EU AI Act: Draft consolidated text leaked online):

• The Act allows an independent administrative authority, rather than a judicial authority, to authorize the use of real-time RBI. This could be problematic as even formally independent agencies might be susceptible to government influence.
• The AI Act delegates the enforcement of these rules to member state agencies, with the legal basis rooted in member state law (some of which with questionable records in this respect).

According to unconfirmed rumours, the member states were the driving force behind the RBI. To summarize, there is still a long way to go to the final implementation in 2 years from now, it will require further “interventions” and we will not be totally satisfied. But one may also quote Benjamin Franklin, 1787, in his closing Speech at the US Constitutional Convention (thanks to Moshe Vardi for the reference): “Thus I consent, Sir, to this Constitution because I expect no better, and because I am not sure that it is not the best. The opinions I have had of its errors, I sacrifice to the public good.”

Update on Dec 12 2023

“It is done”.

The European Commission, the Parliament and the European Council of the 27 Member States have succeeded to adopt the EU AI Act (after long and difficult negotiations).This can be viewed as a success towards which contributions by Civil Society-like ours- have helped as a counterweight to corporate lobbying that sought to initially block and subsequently water down the proposed regulation. We realize that a long, and undoubtedly rocky, road still lies ahead until the AI Act becomes applicable sometime in 2026 and the modalities of its implementation and enforcement are finalized. We therefore believe it is necessary to monitor this process carefully and critically and be ready to intervene together with like-minded persons and organizations. In addition, the AI-Act has the potential to become a global blueprint, as another instance of the well-known Brussels effect . We should contribute to this effort in accordance to our conviction that, ultimately, AI regulation must take place worldwide in a reasonably compatible fashion. To this end, we are leaving our support statement (with this addition) open and continuing our request for further signatures/support. We will keep reporting to you about the AI Act developments.

A Public Statement on the EU AI Act

Recent Artificial Intelligence developments have showcased both the potential for AI applications that are beneficial to society and, simultaneously, the need to provide a safety shield for citizens and democracy from fake information, manipulative algorithms, cybercrime and much more.

The central aim of the EU AI Act is to provide such a safety shield in the form of an enforceable regulation in the same spirit as prior regulations that have ensured safer food, safer medicine and safer airplanes.

The AI Act finds now itself at crossroads as the so-called trilogue among the European Commission, the European Parliament and the 27 Member States has entered its final and most crucial stage. There is a clear danger that (far beyond reasonable, negotiable modifications) critical parts of the AI Act which provide guardrails for the use of powerful AI (foundation) models are rendered totally unenforceable at the insistence of some Member States. This would leave self-regulation by a small number of big powerful companies as the only alternative.

Self-regulation failed democratic societies when social media were nascent and will fail again in the case of AI and for the same reasons. The clock is ticking and the window of opportunity for adoption of an effective AI Act is closing.

Europe must not miss this opportunity for its own sake and for the sake of the entire world.

We, the signatories of this statement, support the EU AI Act as proposed by the European Commission and supported by the European Parliament.

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The Public Statement on the EU AI Act is available for download in PDF format: A Public Statement on the EU AI Act

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Supporters

• Carlo Ghezzi, Politecnico di Milano, Italy
• Sabine Köszegi, TU Wien, Austria
• Jeff Kramer, Imperial College, UK
• George Metakides, Digital Enlightenment Forum, Greece
• Joseph Sifakis, University of Grenoble, France
• Hannes Werthner, TU Wien, Austria

• Anna Bon, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Netherlands
• Andreas Falkner, Austria
• Allan Hanbury, TU Wien, Austria
• A Min Tjoa, TU WIEN, Austria
• Antoni Olivé, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Catalonia
• Patricia Araque, España
• Axel Polleres, Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien, Austria
• Axel van Lamsweerde, University of Louvain, Belgium
• Daniela Gifu, Romanian Academy, România
• Gordana Dodig-Crnkovic, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden
• Ernst Gaertner, Germany
• Elly Plooij- van Gorsel, Former Member European Parliament, Netherlands
• Fabio Alberto Schreiber, Politecnico di Milano, Italy
• Federico Cabitza, University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy
• Ronald M. Filkas, Germany
• Gabriella Hauch, University of Vienna, Austria
• Georg Barta, (retired Professor), Austria
• Gerhard Schimpf, ACM, Deutschland
• Gregor Rosenauer, Austria
• Günter Haring, University of Vienna, Austria
• Hans Akkermans, AKMC & UDS, Netherlands
• Helga Nowotny, Former President ERC, Austria
• Helga Maier, Austria
• Rolf Hennicker, Germany
• Herbert Weltler, Austria
• Thomas Hildebrandt, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
• Jeff Kramer, Imperial College London, United Kingdom
• Julia Neidhardt, TU Wien, Austria
• Justus Bogner, VU Amsterdam, The Netherlands
• Katharina Gsöllpointner, University of Applied Arts Vienna, Austria
• Konrad Wieland, LieberLieber Software GmbH, Austria
• Luisa Mich, University of Trento, Italy
• Lynda Hardman, CWI, Netherlands
• Herbert Waloschek, Austria
• Martin Ferguson, Society for Innovation, Technology and Modernisation, United Kingdom
• Martin Fränzle, Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Germany
• Martina Lindorfer, TU Wien, Austria
• Martina Properzi, Pontifical Lateran University of Rome, Italia
• Michael Hauszer, Österreich
• Michael Dekner, Austria
• Norberto Patrignani, Politecnico of Torino, Italy
• Peter Hexel, ARGETIP, Australien
• Peter Knees, TU Wien, Austria
• Peter Michor, Universitaet Wien, Österreich
• Peter Pilz, Austria
• philipp schaumann, sicherheitskultur.at, Austria
• Rusudan Makhachashvili, Borys Grinchenko Kyiv University, Ukraine
• Reinhard Pichler, TU Wien, Austria
• Roland Schegg, HES-SO Valais/Wallis, Switzerland
• Rosa Meo, University of Torino, Italy
• Rosmarie Nigg, TU Wien, Austria
• Sabine Seidler, TU Wien, Österreich
• Alireza Saebi, ITSchool, Iran
• Bran Selic, Malina Software Corp., Canada
• Sylvia Mattl-Wurm, Austria
• Domenico Talia, Università della Calabria, Italy
• Theo Hug, University of Innsbruck, Austria
• Thomas Slunecko, University of Vienna, Austria
• Thomas Spielhofer, Y Consulting, Austria
• Hutter Thomas, Austria
• Walter Hötzendorfer, Research Institute - Digital Human Rights Center, Austria
• Reinhard Wilhelm, Universität des Saarlandes, Germany
• Wolfgang Hofkirchner, The Institute for a Global Sustainable Information Society, Austria
• Christian Buchhas, Austria
• Jacques Bulchand-Gidumal, University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain
• Roberto Peretta, Touring Club Italiano, Italy
• Michał Boni, Sme, Poland
• Clara Neppel, Austria
• Joan Clotet, Humanismo Digital, Spain
• Robert Link, freesia innovation e.U., Austria
• Eva Kaczko, University of Innsbruck, Austria
• Andreas Tinhofer, Rechtsanwaltskanzlei TINHOFER, Austria
• Gábor Recski, TU Wien, Austria
• Giovanni Adorni, University of Genova, Italia
• Saa Dittoh, West African Centre for Water, Irrigation and Sustainable Agriculture, Univ. for Development Studies, Tamale, Ghana
• Georgios Sgourdos, MD Radiology, Switzerland
• Michael E. Caspersen, It-vest – networking universities, Denmark
• Luis Fernando Sánchez Huertas, Universidad Externado de Colombia, Colombia
• Titus Leber, Initiative Africa Interactive, Austria
• Margarita Egghart, Austria
• Eduardo Vendrell Vidal, Universitat Politècnica de València, Spain
• Joan Roses, Collateral Bits, Espanya
• Ben Shneiderman, Canada
• Peter Schrammel, UK
• Nuno Guimaraes, ISCTE Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Portugal
• Mirna Dzamonja, Université Paris Cité (IRIF), France
• Alfredo Viola, Universidad de la República, Uruguay
• Jamie Murphy, University of Eastern Finland, USA
• Henrikki Salo-Pöntinen, University of Jyväskylä, Finland
• Walter Peissl, Austria
• SUNIMAL MENDIS, TILT, Tilburg University, Netherlands
• Luis Pereira, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal
• Chinmoy Deka, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, India
• Kian Schmalenbach, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany
• Karban Walter, independent, Austria
• Tina Leisch, Austria
• Maria Kolesarova, Comenius university in Bratislava, Slovakia
• Thomas Krettner, none, Germany
• JOSEPH SIFAKIS, VERIMAG - UNIVERSITE GRENOBLE-ALPES, FRANCE
• Maria Emanuela Galanti, Associazione Italiana Formatori, Italy
• Ferdinand Ferroli, Identity Valley, Germany
• Josef Hoeckner, Hoeckner eU, Austria
• Tommaso Dolci, Lero
• Helmut Zeller, Deutschland
• Bernhard COLLINI-NOCKER, PLUS, Austria
• Luca Console, Università di Torino, Italy
• maurizio lana, Università del Piemonte Prientale, Italy
• Mariangiola Dezani, Università di Torino, Italy
• Henry Otunuya, University of Potsdam, Germany
• Ludger Hagedorn, Institute for Human Sciences, Österreich
• Susan Winter, University of Maryland, USA
• Christian Bartosik, Austria
• Anni Rowland-Campbell, Intersticia, United Kingdom
• Stefan Woltran, TU Wien, Austria
• Hannes A. Schwetz, -, Austria
• Anita Eichinger, Vienna City Library, Österreich
• Alesandro Gallo, Vienna City Library, Vienna City Administration, Municipal Departement 9, Austria
• Matthias Zeppelzauer, FH St. Pölten, Österreich
• Sandra Pialek, MA 9, Österreich
• Jan Christ, Austria
• Evelyne Luef, Austria
• Wolfgang Hassler, Austria
• Hans Feichtinger, Faculty of Mathematics, University Vienna, AUSTRIA
• Irina Nalis, TU Wien, Österreich
• Matthias Aschenbrenner, University of Vienna, Austria
• Frick Susanna, Liechtenstein
• Robert Hinterhoelzl, Humans, Austria
• Katja Mayer, Center for Social Innovation, Vienna, Austria
• Camila Monasterio, Spain
• Guido ROSSBORY, AUSTRIA
• Nicole Mitsche, Austria
• Kowol Gerhard, Faculty of Mathematics, Austria
• Markus Fulmek, University of Vienna, Austria
• Gregor Neuböck, Wienbibliothek im Rathaus, Austria
• Dirk Beyer, LMU Munich, Germany
• Ingrid Taucher, MIO, Austria
• Michael Michor, Austria
• Alan Hazivar, University of Vienna, Austria
• Eva Seibold, Österreich
• Santy Prada, Spain
• Karolin Pichler, Deutschland
• Helena Anna Frijns, TU Wien, Austria
• Johann Gaisbacher, Österreich
• Mathias Beiglböck, University of Vienna, Österreich
• Markus Pusnik, Vienna Board of Education, Austria
• jörg piringer, austria
• Max Dillinger, Austria
• Walter Schachermayer, University Vienna, Austria
• Wolfgang Benedek, University of Graz, Österreich
• Wolfgang Hametner, Austria
• Elfie Fleck, ---, Austria
• Bernhard Krüpl-Sypien, Became AI, Austria
• Reinhard Bürger, Faculty of Mathematics, University of Vienna, Austria
• Peter Blazek, Austria
• Marta Sabou, Vienna University of Economics and Business, WU, Austria
• Peter Biegelbauer, Austria
• Renate Bauer-Hoffmann, Austria
• Wolfgang Schoener, Austria
• Erika Kanelutti-Chilas, Austria
• Franka KHUDRY, Austria
• Roland Zweimueller, University of Vienna, A
• Isabella Baumgartner, Österreich
• Lejla Ibralic Halilovic, Autria
• Jaime Cárdenas-García, University of Maryland, USA
• Giorgos Flouris, FORTH-ICS, Greece
• Alex Awada, National University of Science and Technology Politehnica Bucharest, Romania
• Rainer Bauböck, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Austria
• Konstantinos Blekas, University of Ioannina, Greece
• Julia Hinterbuchinger, Österreich
• Ernst Hofmeister, Austria
• Yanis Maistros, National Tech. Univ. of Athens, Greece
• Konstantinos Kotis, University of the Aegean, Dept. of Cultural Tech. & Comm., Intelligent Systems Lab., Greece
• Maria Rosaria Galanti, Sweden
• Harald Rindler, Universität Wien, Austria
• Karl Dworschak, Austria
• Tanja Rindler-Daller, Universität Wien, Austria
• Michal Kovac, FIIT STU, Slovakia
• Martin Wirsing, LMU Munich, Germany
• Fosca Giannotti, Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, Italia
• Raluca Creanga, University of Bucharest, Romania
• Jacques Bus, Digital Enlightenment Forum, Netherlands
• Luca Anselma, Università di Torino, Italy
• Simon Anghel, Astronomical Institute of the Romanian Academy, Romania
• Werner Scholl, Österreich
• Lionel Briand, Lero centre, University of Limerick, Ireland, Ireland
• Konstantinos Margaritis, University of Macedonia, Greece
• Juergen Oehlinger, Technisches Museum Wien, Austria
• Alexandra Heil, Deutschland
• Manfred Rott, Austria
• Dino Pedreschi, Uniersity of Pisa, Italy
• Andrea Lackinger, WPV, Austria
• Wolfgang Krisper, Austria
• Sophie Leitner, Österreich
• Roland Steinbauer, University of Vienna, Austria
• Johannes Schoissengeier, Faculty of Mathematics, University of Vienna, Austria
• Doris Weyer, hrdiamonds, Österreich
• Martin Benes, Österreich
• Cristina Branca, HR Diamonds, Austria
• wolfgang enzinger, priv, A
• Imma Palme, Austria
• Claudia Lego, Austria
• Esther Paniagua
• Susi Anderle, Österreich
• Maria Moundridou, School of Pedagogical and Technological Education, Greece
• Ioanna Stamatopoulou, CITY College, University of York Europe Campus, Greece
• Ferruccio Damiani, University of Turin, Italy
• Rebeca Benitez, Austria
• Elisabeth Tauber, Austria
• Dieter Manfred Karner, Karner TGA Consulting e.U., Österreich
• Wolfgang Emmerich, UCL, United Kingdom
• Gudrun Pilz, Österreich
• madeleine castka, austria
• Federico Peiretti, University of Turin, Italy
• Alina Vetter, Austria
• gerhard Chroust, Johannes Kepler Univ. Linz, Austria
• Franz Stangl, Österreich
• Hedwig Chaloupka, Österreich
• Christian Krattenthaler, University of Vienna, Austria
• Dr. Dimitris Gkikas, University of Patras, Greece
• Magda Schmidt, Germany
• anil Nerode, Cornell University, US
• Joe Püringer, OSH Experts, AT
• Brückner Wolfgang, Österreich
• Rudolf Moser, zeroseven design studios, Germany
• Martina Grimus, Austria
• Brigitte Schigutt, ---, Austria
• Karl Pleyl, Austria
• Norbert Pfeifer, TU Wien, Austria
• Andreas Ulrich Frank, TU Wien, Austria
• Gerhard Navratil, TU Wien, Austria
• Werner Kuhn, University of California Santa Barbara, Portugal
• Karl Gutscher, Austria
• Walter G. Kropatsch, TU Wien, Austria
• Mark van Doorn, Netherlands
• Anne Nigten, AHK, CASE (Centre for Arts & Sciences Education), Netherlands
• Gerhard Weichselberger, Austria
• Petra Farber, Nederland
• Gerbrand Bas, Holland Processing, Nederland
• Peter Sachartschenko, Austria
• Werner Damm, SafeTRANS, Germany
• Marie Baarspul, Netherlands
• Snehal Shekatkar, Complexity Science Hub, Vienna, Austria
• Todor Ganchev, Technical University of Varna, Bulgaria
• Francesco Ricci, Italy
• Tünde Fülöp, Research Institute - Digital Human Rights Center, Österreich
• Ewald Brückl, TU Wien, Austria
• Peter W. Hochegger, Austria
• Stefan Winter, LMU Munich, Germany
• Tanja Baars, Netherlands
• Ciska Vriezenga, Netherlands
• Piero Poccianti, AIxIA, Italy
• Claudine Ulreich, hrdiamonds GmbH, Österreich
• Robert Ulreich, Dittrich Werbegestaltungs GmbH, Austria
• Gabriel Schmidt, Österreich
• Luis Caires, Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal
• Marlies Lenglachner, Corporate Develeopment Lenglachner & Partner, Austria
• Werner Purgathofer, VRVis Research, Austria
• Andreas Walch, VRVis, Österreich
• Rebecca Nowak, VRVis Zentrum für Virtual Reality und Visualisierung Forschungs-GmbH, Austria
• Laurențiu Leahu-Vlăducu, VRVis, Austria
• Katja Bühler, VRVis, Austria
• Philip Winter, VRVis, Austria
• Kresimir Matkovic, VRVis Zentrum für Virtual Reality und Visualisierung Forschungs-GmbH, Austria
• Michael Trattner, City of Vienna, Austria
• Michael Ingruber, Vienna City Library, Austria
• Cornelia Travnicek, VRVis - Zentrum für Virtual Reality und Visualisierung Forschungs-GmbH, Austria
• Giorgio Ausiello, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy
• Harald Hruschka, University of Regensburg, Germany
• Giovanna Jaramillo Gutierrez, Milan and associates SRL, Belgium, Belgium
• Philippe Verstraete, Belgium
• Frank van Harmelen, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Netherlands
• Lise Stork, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Netherlands
• Nikolaos Kondylidis, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Greece
• Xander Wilcke, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands
• Fabian Hoppe, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Netherlands
• Stefan Schlobach, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands
• Harald Probst, Österreich
• Sandra Geelhoed, HU university of Applied Sciences Utrecht, Netherlands
• Esther Sarphatie, Epiek Amsterdam, Netherlands
• Alexandra Hahn-Prochaska, Vienna
• Kim Mens, UCLouvain, Belgium
• Thanasis Balafoutis, Democritus University of Thrace, Greece
• Floris den Hengst, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Netherlands
• Frank Dignum, Umeå University, Sweden
• Filip Ilievski, VU Amsterdam, The Netherlands
• Luuk Terbeek, VU Amsterdam, The Netherlands
• Agustin Fernandez, Spain
• Diogo Henriques, Portugal
• Lauren Kaffie, Neurorights Initiative, United States of America
• Marisa Ponti, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
• Wilfried Boubela, Austria
• André Meyer-Vitali, DFKI, Germany
• Geert Heijenk, University of Twente, The Netherlands
• Katharina Prager, Austria
• Eugen Pfister, Austria
• Nicolas Scharowski, University of Basel, Switzerland
• Theresa Philippi, University of Applied Science Technikum Wien, Austria
• Domenico Bianculli, University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg
• Chetana Amrite, Eque2, United Kingdom
• Kim Schmider, VrVis, Austria
• Dominik Roth, Austria
• Daniel Pilz, ZackZack, Austria
• Andrea Sipka, German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI GmbH), Germany
• Alberto Torresimn, UNIMI, Physics Dep; POLIS Regione LOmbardia, Italia
• Wolfgang Wörndl, Technische Universität München (TUM), Gemany
• Thanassis Tiropanis, University of Southampton, United Kingdom
• Paul Sheldon, Villanova University, United States
• Brigitte Werthnet, Austria
• Theresia Werthner, Austria
• Georg Werthner, Österreich
• Thomas Weingartner, Austria
• Sonja Schneeweiss, Bund Sozialdemokratischer Akademiker:innen, Austria
• Harald Kapper, kapper.net, Austria
• Günter Schraik, BSA Niederösterreich, Austria
• Johannes Pfaundler-Spiegel, Bund Sozialdemokratischer Akademiker:innen, Austria
• christine Dr.Klein, BSA Gänserndorf, Österreich