Tech Brief: Germany’s AI reservations, fair share moves in the metaverse

 

“We reserve the right to make further comments.”

-Extract from the German federal government’s comments on the AI Act.

Story of the week: At the Telecom Council in December, German digital minister Volker Wissing made clear Berlin still has some reservations about the AI Act, which it hopes will be solved at the trilogue stage. EURACTIV obtained the detailed comments Germany submitted in October, which position the largest European economy much closer to the European Parliament on biometric and emotion recognition, predictive policing, AI in the workplace, and the classification of high-risk systems. These points were reiterated in November, as well as in an internal paper, dated 2 December and obtained by EURACTIV, which the German government shared with the Bundestag, the federal parliament, ahead of the ministerial meeting.

The more recent documents also include some additional points, for instance, the mention that “as it stands now, providers of general purpose AI systems may face a variety of issues that result in investment and innovation attentisms.” On General Purpose AI, Berlin highlighted that the requirements for GPAI providers should be predictable, relevant and proportionate, whilst responsibilities along the supply chain are difficult to trace. The more recent German comments also call for more flexibility in applying algorithms originally developed for military purposes to civilian applications, for instance, if the armed forces have to be mobilised to respond to natural disasters. Inconsistency with other legislation is also stressed, particularly in data protection, financial services, insurance and medical devices. (...)