The first legally binding international treaty on artificial intelligence will be open for signature on Thursday by the countries that negotiated it, including members of the European Union, the United States and Britain, the Council of Europe’s human rights body said.
The AI agreement, which has been in the works for years and was adopted in May after discussions among 57 countries, addresses the risks AI may pose, while promoting responsible innovation.
“This agreement is a major step forward in ensuring that we can benefit from these new technologies without compromising our oldest values, such as human rights and the rule of law,” UK Justice Minister Shabana Mahmood said in a statement.
The AI agreement focuses primarily on protecting the human rights of people affected by AI systems and is separate from the EU’s AI Act, which came into force last month.
The EU AI Act includes comprehensive regulations on the development, deployment and use of AI systems within the EU internal market.
The Council of Europe, founded in 1949, is an international organisation separate from the European Union whose mission is to protect human rights; it has 47 member states, including all 27 EU member states.
In 2019, an ad hoc committee began studying the feasibility of an AI framework agreement, and the AI Committee was formed in 2022, which drafted and negotiated the text.
Signatories may choose to adopt or maintain legislative, administrative or other measures to give effect to the provisions.
Francesca Vannucci, a legal expert at the European Centre for Legal Non-Profits, which helped draft the treaty along with other civil society groups, told Reuters the agreement had been “watered down” to a broad set of principles.
“The wording of the principles and obligations in this agreement is so broad and so full of caveats that it raises serious questions about its legal certainty and the possibility of its effective enforcement,” she said.
Fanucci highlighted exemptions for AI systems used for national security purposes, and limited scrutiny of private companies compared to the public sector, as shortcomings. “This double standard is disappointing,” she said.
The UK government said it would work with regulators, decentralised administrations and local authorities to ensure they could adequately implement its new requirements.