According to the principles of the European AI law, biometric identifiers may not be used in public spaces, except in very special exceptional situations.

The European Parliament met this morning to vote on the AI ​​law. With the law, the European Commission wants to establish clearer rules to better protect the privacy of citizens. An important starting point of the law is the complete ban on biometric identification in public spaces.

The legal text received the green light for the next phase. Parliament’s decision means a significant restriction on the use of cameras that can, for example, recognize faces in public spaces. Databases of faces are also prohibited, as are systems that categorize people by gender, race, ethnicity, marital status, religion, political orientation, whereabouts, or criminal history. Biometric identification as part of police investigations is permitted, but only with the permission of a judge.

“It is crucial to build citizens’ trust in the development of AI, to define the European way to deal with the extraordinary changes already taking place and to guide the political debate on AI on a global scale,” says MEP Brando Benifei (Italy , S&D), one of the driving forces behind the law, told Forbes.

The AI ​​Act also contains transparency obligations for providers of AI technology. Read more about the importance of law for the technology industry here.