On June 18, CDT Europe held a closed civil society workshop to discuss advancing fundamental rights in the implementation of the AI Act. The event brought together representatives from key civil society organizations to brainstorm opportunities and strategic approaches to ensure human rights remain central during the roadmap to implementation.
The Artificial Intelligence Act, a pioneering regulation in AI governance, is scheduled for publication in the official journal of the European Union in July 2024 and will come into force in early August after several years of negotiation. Despite its ambitious goals to establish rules governing AI development and deployment while protecting fundamental rights, the Act has received mixed reactions from human rights organizations concerned that it may not go far enough.
Coinciding with the AI Board's first meeting, CDT Europe's workshop convened civil society representatives to discuss crucial short-term steps. Laura Lazaro Cabrera, CDT Europe Programme Director for Equity and Data and Counsel, along with journalist Luca Bertuzzi, opened the event by discussing lessons learned during the AI Act negotiations and exploring the current political and regulatory landscape.
A panel discussion followed, led by CDT EU’s AI Policy Fellow Jonathan Schmidt, Equinet representative Milla Vidina, and Nele Roekens from Unia. The panel addressed the governance ecosystem around implementing the AI Act, focusing on entities responsible for governance tasks under the Act. They also discussed fundamental rights authorities' oversight role due to their powers to access documents related to high-risk AI systems as outlined in Annex III of the Act.
Karolina Iwanska from the European Center for Not-for-Profit Law presented an overview of forthcoming procedures and outputs under the AI Act—approximately 80 in total—highlighting specific avenues for civil society engagement based on the timeline of the Act.
Afternoon breakout sessions delved into specific outputs foreseen under the AI Act:
- Fundamental rights impact assessments
- Codes of Practice around general-purpose AI models
- Guidelines on prohibited AI systems
- Guidelines on high-risk AI systems
Participants emphasized ensuring robust mechanisms for meaningful civil society participation in developing these outputs. Strategies were discussed to coordinate civil society inputs to inform efforts by the European Commission and AI Office moving forward.
The workshop marked an important step post-AI Act approval in establishing priorities for civil society support towards ongoing EU institutional work and governance entities created by the Act. Through such exchanges, CDT Europe aims to foster collaboration within civil society to address pressing human rights challenges in the digital age.
