HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL: will community ‘art’ platforms be regulated under the EU AI Act?

back to 'thoughts'

does the EU AI Act regulate against women objectification/oversexualisation on internationally popular community ‘art’ platforms? (no, apparently not)

The short answer is, ‘No!’ – although individual member states may eventually do so.

The only references I could find to respect for human dignity (which many AI text-to-image models violate almost by default in the way they oversexualise women) are in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, to which the EU AI Act refers in its preamble.

Where relevant to the issue of women objectification and oversexualisation, I have highlighted text in red font.

 “The purpose of this Regulation is to improve the functioning of the internal market by laying down a uniform legal framework in particular for the development, the placing on the market, the putting into service and the use of artificial intelligence systems (AI systems) in the Union, in accordance with Union values, to promote the uptake of human centric and trustworthy artificial intelligence (AI) while ensuring a high level of protection of health, safety, fundamental rights as enshrined in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (the ‘Charter’), including democracy, the rule of law and environmental protection, to protect against the harmful effects of AI systems in the Union, and to support innovation. This Regulation ensures the free movement, cross-border, of AI-based goods and services, thus preventing Member States from imposing restrictions on the development, marketing and use of AI systems, unless explicitly authorised by this Regulation.

This Regulation should be applied in accordance with the values of the Union enshrined as in the Charter, facilitating the protection of natural persons, undertakings, democracy, the rule of law and environmental protection, while boosting innovation and employment and making the Union a leader in the uptake of trustworthy AI.”

CHARTER OF FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

Human dignity

“Human dignity is inviolable. It must be respected and protected.”

Article 54

Prohibition of abuse of rights

“Nothing in this Charter shall be interpreted as implying any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms recognised in this Charter or at their limitation to a greater extent than is provided for herein.”

EUROPEAN DECLARATION ON DIGITAL RIGHTS AND PRINCIPLES FOR THE DIGITAL DECADE

Preamble

“The European Union (EU) is a ‘union of values’, as enshrined in Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union, founded on respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities. Moreover according to the Charter of fundamental rights of the European Union, the EU is founded on the indivisible, universal values of human dignity, freedom, equality and solidarity. The Charter also reaffirms the rights as they result, in particular, from international obligations common to the Member States.”

CHAPTER IV

Participation in the digital public space  

“Online platforms, particularly very large online platforms, should support free democratic debate online. Given the role of their services in shaping public opinion and discourse, very large online platforms should mitigate the risks stemming from the functioning and use of their services, including in relation to misinformation and disinformation campaigns, and protect freedom of expression.”

“We commit to:

• continuing safeguarding all fundamental rights online, notably the freedom of expression and information, including media freedom and pluralism;

• supporting the development and best use of digital technologies to stimulate people's engagement and democratic participation;

• taking proportionate measures to tackle all forms of illegal content, in full respect for fundamental rights, including the right to freedom of expression and information, and without establishing any general monitoring obligations or censorship;

• creating a digital environment where people are protected against disinformation and information manipulation and other forms of harmful content, including harassment and gender-based violence; (and)

• supporting effective access to digital content reflecting the cultural and linguistic diversity in the EU.”