Proposal for a Regulation on Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one of the most important key technologies in the industry. Against this background, unbureaucratic and innovation-friendly framework conditions for the use of AI are a key prerequisite for securing the innovative capacity and competitiveness of the German and European industry in the long term. It is the right approach that the proposal for a European AI Regulation, presented by the European Commission on 21 April 2021, focuses on AI systems that can be associated with high risks. However, there is still considerable need for improvement in many areas of the proposal. Essentially, it is important to avoid an over regulation of industrial application fields of AI. Otherwise, there is the risk that the development of innovative applications of the key technology AI will be weakened from the outset. As the design of the legal framework for the use of AI has thus far-reaching consequences for the competitiveness of European companies, the industrial application perspective of AI must be given equal consideration in the further legislative process. A legal definition of Artificial Intelligence that clearly distinguishes AI from conventional software is also urgently needed. If the legal framework for the use of AI in Europe is designed in an innovation-friendly way, European companies - in the combination of their industrial strength with the possibilities of AI - can gain a decisive advantage in international competition.