Civil society calls on the EU to ban predictive AI systems in policing and criminal justice in the AI Act

The European Union institutions are taking the significant step to regulate artificial intelligence systems, including in the area of law enforcement, within the proposed Artificial Intelligence Act (AIA).

40+ civil organisations call on the Council of the European Union, the European Parliament, and all EU member state governments to prohibit AI predictive and profiling AI systems in law enforcement and criminal justice in the AIA.

This is a unique opportunity to ensure full fundamental rights protection for people affected by AI systems, and in particular, to prevent the use of AI to exacerbate structural power imbalances. AI systems in law enforcement, particularly the use of predictive and profiling AI systems, disproportionately target the most marginalised in society, infringe on liberty and fair trial rights, and reinforce structural discrimination.

“Age-old discrimination is being hard-wired into new age technologies in the form of predictive and profiling AI systems used by law enforcement and criminal justice authorities. Seeking to predict people’s future behaviour and punish them for it is completely incompatible with the fundamental right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty. The only way to protect people from these harms and other fundamental rights infringements is to prohibit their use.” — Griff Ferris, Legal and Policy Officer, Fair Trials

This statement details the harmful impact of predictive, profiling and ‘risk’ assessment systems in law enforcement and criminal justice and makes the case for amendments to the EU’s AIA . 

 “AI for predictive policing is reinforcing racial profiling and compromising the rights of over-policed communities. The EU’s AI Act must prevent this with a prohibition on predictive policing systems.” — Sarah Chander, Senior Policy Adviser, EDRi. 

Read the statement in Spanish.