The Council of Europe Committee on Artificial Intelligence (CAI) was tasked by the CoE Committee of Ministers to negotiate a Framework Convention on AI, rule of law, human rights and democracy. ECNL is the expert representative of the Conference of INGOs of the Council of Europe (CINGO) in CAI.
Ahead of start of negotiations in CAI in January 2023, CINGO and a group of other civil society observers already urged CAI to include broad scope and definition of AI systems, and ensure meaningful participation of civil society organisations, in particular those representing marginalised groups, in the negotiating process.
What are the next steps?
The CAI negotiations are now intensifying: a Consolidated Working Draft of the Convention is expected to be imminently published on the CAI’s website. That's why on July 4, 2023, the undersigned CSOs participating in the CAI sent a letter to the CAI Chair and Secretariat.
In the letter we underscore the urgency of this Convention as the challenges arising from the design, development and deployment of AI systems increase. We deeply regret that the negotiating States have chosen to exclude both civil society observers and Council of Europe member participants from the drafting group of the Convention and call on the drafting group to ensure, among other priorities:
- A transversal, binding legal instrument with a broad definition of AI and without blanket exemptions (e.g., excluding AI systems for national defence and/or national security).
- Mandatory and publicly accessible impact assessments on human rights, democracy and rule of law for AI systems deployed by public entities or otherwise presenting a high level of risk.
- Clear guidelines and criteria for prohibitions of unacceptable AI systems.
- Effective redress mechanisms, independent oversight and enforcement mechanisms for the Convention implementation.
The statement was signed by:
The statement is also endorsed by:
European Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ECNL)
Nigeria Network of NGOs
Bits of Freedom
Citizen D / Državljan D
Transparência Brasil
Sofija Stevanovic, Member of the Board of the Youth Parliament, City of Bern
Benedikt Höltgen, Machine Learning PhD student, University of Tübingen, ELLIS programme and IMPRS-IS graduate school
Susanne Keller, Bethge Lab, University of Tübingen
Douwe Korff, Emeritus Professor of International Law, London Metropolitan University
Álvaro Tejero-Cantero, Machine Learning ⇌ Science Collaboratory, University of Tübingen
Laura Iacovissi, Researcher (PhD student), University of Tübingen
Baltasar Cevc, Lawyer, Fingolex