On 2 December, ALDE Party in collaboration with Adobe hosted the second hybrid Stakeholder Series event of the year, titled ‘Can Europe Future Proof AI’. Panellists Svenja Hahn MEP, Karen Melchior MEP and Adobe's Senior Manager for Government Relations in Europe Stefanie Valdés-Scott discussed the challenges that the large-scale deployment of Artificial Intelligence systems poses to our society and how the EU should implement the Artificial Intelligence Act to ensure protection of citizens while also maintaining an environment for enterprise growth and technology innovation. Ondřej Kovařík MEP moderated the discussion.

Hahn spoke about the EU aiming to be a trendsetter for AI legislation, defined by EU values and human rights, which maintains innovation friendliness through clear and understandable regulations.

”Normally politicians tend to overregulate something that has come up in recent years and in this case we want to set a solid framework for something that will emerge in the future where we might not even understand its potential,” she explained.

Valdés-Scott from Adobe discussed how industry can take leadership roles with new developments, such as establishing Open Industry Standards which creates trust with consumers.

While discussing the flexibility of regulation, she welcomed the risk-based approach of the AI legislation but stated that the current definition being used in the act is too broad.

“To future proof the AI Act it is crucial that the definition of AI is sufficiently flexible to accommodate technical progress while being precise enough to provide legal clarity,” she stated.

Melchior highlighted the importance that use, not technology, requires from the legislation, stating blanket regulation of AI is regressive.

“If we make the process for companies to develop AI systems too burdensome and unpredictable within the EU, we risk hindering business development and innovation without actually providing better protection,” she warned.