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13 March 2024

Press release

EU Parliament votes on AI Act; member states will have to plug surveillance loopholes

Today, the European rulebook on AI - the so-called EU Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act) - will be adopted in the European Parliament. It aims to regulate AI development and usage in the European Union. Although the Act takes basic steps in safeguarding fundamental rights, it includes glaring loopholes that threaten to undermine its very purpose.

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5 March 2024

Press release

The Council of Europe’s Convention on AI: No free ride for tech companies and security authorities!

The Convention on AI is intended to be the first legally binding international agreement on AI. The final round of negotiations will take place in Strasbourg starting 11 March 2024. The members of the Council of Europe (including the EU member states) and non-members such as the US, Japan and Canada will also be sitting around the negotiating table. AlgorithmWatch, over 90 civil society organizations, and prominent academics are calling on the negotiating states to regulate companies’ and national security authorities’ use of AI.

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Foto von Sara Kurfeß auf Unsplash

15 February 2024

Press release

AlgorithmWatch and AI Forensics among the first organizations to request platform data under the DSA

Berlin, 15 February 2024. The EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) is designed to give citizens new powers to protect their rights online. Today, many of its most impactful provisions are supposed to come into force: notably the creation of a Digital Services Coordinator (DSC) in every EU Member State and new opportunities for researchers to access platform data.

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2 February 2024

Press release

AI Act about to finally become law?

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Council of Europe

25 January 2024

Press release

Europe’s Approach to AI regulation: Embracing Big Tech and Security Hardliners

Europe is about to adopt two major regulations on Artificial Intelligence: the EU’s AI Act and the Council of Europe’s Convention on AI. Yet, while both rulebooks were initially meant to turn the tables on Big Tech and to effectively protect people against governments' abuse of AI technology, interests of tech companies and governments' security hardliners may win out.

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15 December 2023

Press release

Microsoft‘s Bing Chat: A source of misinformation on elections

Microsoft‘s AI-driven chatbot Copilot, formerly known as Bing Chat, generates factually inaccurate and fabricated information about elections in Switzerland and Germany. This raises concerns about potential damage to the reputation of candidates and news sources. In making search engine results less reliable, generative AI impacts one of the cornerstones of democracy: access to reliable and transparent public information on the internet.

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9 December 2023

Press release

AI Act deal: Key safeguards and dangerous loopholes

After a negotiation marathon in the global spotlight, EU lawmakers closed a deal late Friday night on the AI Act, the EU’s law on regulating the development and use of Artificial Intelligence systems. The EU Parliament managed to introduce a number of key safeguards to improve the original draft text, but Member States still decided to leave people without protection in situations where they would need it most.

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Photo: Thierry Breton/Twitter

7 December 2023

Press release

AI Act drama: Illegitimate deals, irresponsible negotiation hours, and unacceptable pressure games

After a negotiation marathon on its Artificial Intelligence Act, EU Member States put the screws on the EU Parliament to put national security and industry interests before the protection of people’s rights. Having been negotiating for over 20 hours, sleep-deprived EU lawmakers were pressuring each other today to close an unacceptable deal – on some of the most fundamental implications of AI on people and society.

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Foto von Frederic Köberl auf Unsplash

15 June 2023

Press release

EU Parliament vote on AI Act: Lawmakers chose to protect people against harms of AI systems

After long months of intense negotiations, members of the European Parliament voted on the EU’s Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act). AlgorithmWatch applauds the Parliament for strengthening fundamental rights protection against the negative impacts of AI, such as that of face recognition in public spaces. Yet, the Parliament missed the opportunity to enhance protection for some people who would need it most.

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15 March 2023

Press release

New study on AI in the workplace: Workers need control options to ensure co-determination

Employees must be included in the implementation process, if so-called Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems are introduced to their workplace. Such systems are used by many companies for automated decision-making (ADM) already. They are often based on Machine Learning (ML) algorithms. The European Union’s Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act) draft is designed to safeguard workers’ rights, but such legislative measures won’t be enough. An AlgorithmWatch study funded by the Hans Böckler Foundation explains how workers’ co-determination can be practically achieved in this regard.

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23 February 2023

Press release

New study highlights crucial role of trade unions for algorithmic transparency and accountability in the world of work

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Khari Slaughter for AlgorithmWatch, CC BY 4.0

26 January 2023

Press release

How does TikTok tick? DataSkop to scrutinize TikTok’s For You feed with users’ data donations

What kinds of content is TikTok’s For You recommender showing us? What niches are users being led into? DataSkop’s second data donation project is designed to find answers to questions like these over the coming months. From 26 January until the end of March, TikTok users are invited to donate their data to our project. By analyzing these data sets, we will gain deeper insight into how the platform’s recommender system work.

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25 May 2022

Press release

Christina Elmer joins AlgorithmWatch as shareholder

Christina Elmer, Professor of Digital Journalism at TU Dortmund University and one of the most renowned data journalists in Germany, becomes a new shareholder of the non-profit watchdog organization.

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30 October 2020

Press release

Civil Society Coalition Calls for Binding Transparency Rules for Online Platforms

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27 October 2020

Press release

Vast increase of Automated Decision-Making and AI-Based Systems in Europe: Transparency, oversight and competence still lacking

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