COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS Building Trust in Human-Centric Artificial Intelligence
Date: 2019-04-08
Institutions: Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology, European Commission
Subjects: artificial intelligence, diffusion of innovations, digital single market, information technology applications, innovation, new technology, professional ethics, research and development, research integrity

EN 

  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 8.4.2019  COM(2019) 168 final  COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS Building Trust in Human-Centric Artificial Intelligence  
 
 
1.  INTRODUCTION — THE EUROPEAN AI STRATEGY 

Artificial  intelligence  (AI)  has  the  potential  to  transform  our  world  for  the  better:  it  can 
improve healthcare, reduce energy consumption, make cars safer, and enable farmers to use 
water  and  natural  resources  more  efficiently.  AI  can  be  used  to  predict  environmental  and 
climate  change,  improve  financial  risk  management  and  provides  the  tools  to  manufacture, 
with  less  waste,  products  tailored  to  our  needs.  AI  can  also  help  to  detect  fraud  and 
cybersecurity threats, and enables law enforcement agencies to fight crime more efficiently. 

AI can benefit the whole of society and the economy. It is a strategic technology that is now 
being developed and used at a rapid pace across the world. Nevertheless, AI also brings with 
it new challenges for the future of work, and raises legal and ethical questions. 

To address these challenges and make the most of the opportunities which AI offers, the 
Commission published a European strategy1 in April 2018. The strategy places people at 
the centre of the development of AI — human-centric AI. It is a three-pronged approach to 
boost  the  EU’s  technological  and  industrial  capacity  and  AI  uptake  across  the  economy, 
prepare for socio-economic changes, and ensure an appropriate ethical and legal framework.  

To deliver on the AI strategy, the Commission developed together with Member States a 
coordinated  plan  on  AI2,  which  it  presented  in  December  2018,  to  create  synergies,  pool 
data — the raw material for many AI applications — and increase joint investments. The aim 
is  to  foster  cross-border  cooperation  and  mobilise  all  players  to  increase  public  and  private 
investments  to  at  least  EUR 20  billion  annually  over  the  next  decade3.  The  Commission 
doubled  its  investments  in  AI  in  Horizon  2020  and  plans  to  invest  EUR  1  billion  annually 
from Horizon Europe and the Digital Europe Programme, in support notably of common data 
spaces  in  health,  transport  and  manufacturing,  and  large  experimentation  facilities  such  as 
smart hospitals and infrastructures for automated vehicles and a strategic research agenda.   

To  implement  such  a  common  strategic  research,  innovation  and  deployment  agenda  the 
Commission  has  intensified  its  dialogue  with  all  relevant  stakeholders  from  industry, 
research  institutes  and  public  authorities.  The  new  Digital  Europe  programme  will  also  be 
crucial  in  helping  to  make  AI  available  to  small  and  medium-size  enterprises  across  all 
Member  States  through  digital  innovation  hubs,  strengthened  testing  and  experimentation 
facilities, data spaces and training programmes. 

Building on its reputation for safe and high-quality products, Europe’s ethical approach to AI 
strengthens  citizens’  trust  in  the  digital  development  and  aims  at  building  a  competitive 
advantage  for  European  AI  companies.  The  purpose  of  this  Communication  is  to  launch  a 
comprehensive piloting phase involving stakeholders on the widest scale in order to test the 
practical implementation of ethical guidance for AI development and use.  

2.  BUILDING TRUST IN HUMAN-CENTRIC AI 

The European AI strategy and the coordinated plan make clear that trust is a prerequisite to 
ensure  a  human-centric  approach  to  AI:  AI  is  not  an  end  in  itself,  but  a  tool  that  has  to 
serve  people  with  the  ultimate  aim  of  increasing  human  well-being.  To  achieve  this,  the 

1  

2  
3  

  COM(2018) 237. 
  COM(2018) 795. 
To help reach this goal, the  Commission  proposed, under the  next programming period 2021-2027, that 
the Union allocates at least EUR 1 billion per year in funding from the Horizon Europe and Digital Europe 
programmes to invest in AI. 

1 

 
 
 
                                                           
trustworthiness of AI should be ensured. The values on which our societies are based need 
to be fully integrated in the way AI develops. 

The  Union  is  founded  on  the  values  of  respect  for  human  dignity,  freedom,  democracy, 
equality,  the  rule  of  law  and  respect  for  human  rights,  including  the  rights  of  persons 
belonging to  minorities4.  These values  are  common to  the societies of all Member States in 
which  pluralism,  non-discrimination,  tolerance,  justice,  solidarity  and  equality  prevail.  In 
addition,  the  EU  Charter  of  Fundamental  Rights  brings  together  –  in  a  single  text  –  the 
personal, civic, political, economic and social rights enjoyed by people within the EU.  

The  EU  has  a  strong  regulatory  framework  that  will  set  the  global  standard  for  human-
centric AI. The General Data Protection Regulation ensures a high standard of protection of 
personal  data,  and  requires  the  implementation  of  measures  to  ensure  data  protection  by 
design and by default5. The Free Flow of Non-Personal Data Regulation removes barriers to 
the free movement of non-personal data and ensures the processing of all categories of data 
anywhere in Europe. The recently adopted Cybersecurity Act will help to strengthen trust in 
the online world, and the proposed ePrivacy Regulation6 also aims at this goal. 

Nevertheless,  AI  brings  new  challenges  because  it  enables  machines  to  “learn”  and  to  take 
and implement decisions without human intervention. Before long, this kind of functionality 
will become standard in many types of goods and services, from smart phones to automated 
cars, robots and online applications. Yet, decisions taken by algorithms could result from data 
that is incomplete and therefore not reliable, they may be tampered with by cyber-attackers, or 
they may be biased or simply mistaken. Unreflectively applying the technology as it develops 
would therefore lead to  problematic outcomes  as well as reluctance by  citizens to  accept  or 
use it. 

Instead, AI technology should be developed in a way that puts people at its centre and is thus 
worthy of the public’s trust.  This  implies that AI applications should not only be consistent 
with the law, but also adhere to ethical principles and ensure that their implementations avoid 
unintended  harm.  Diversity  in  terms  of  gender,  racial  or  ethnic  origin,  religion  or  belief, 
disability and age should be ensured at every stage of AI development. AI applications should 
empower citizens and respect their fundamental rights. They should aim to enhance people’s 
abilities, not replace them, and also enable access by people with disabilities.  

Therefore,  there  is  a  need  for  ethics  guidelines  that  build  on  the  existing  regulatory 
framework and that should be applied by developers, suppliers and users of AI in the internal 
market, establishing an ethical level playing field across all Member States. This is why the 
Commission  has  set  up  a  high-level  expert  group  on  AI7  representing  a  wide  range  of 
stakeholders and has tasked it with drafting AI ethics guidelines as well as preparing a set of 
recommendations  for  broader  AI  policy.  At  the  same  time,  the  European  AI  Alliance8,  an 
open multi-stakeholder platform with over 2700 members, was set up to provide broader input 
for the work of the AI high-level expert group. 

4  
5  

6  
7  
8  

In addition, the EU is a party to the UN Convention on the Rights of persons with disabilities. 
Regulation (EU) 2016/679. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) guarantees the free flow of 
personal  data  within  the  Union.  It  contains  provisions  on  decision-making  based  solely  on  automated 
processing,  including  profiling.  The  individuals  concerned  have  the  right  to  be  informed  about  the 
existence of automated-decision making and to receive meaningful information about the logic involved in 
the automated decision-making and about the significance and envisaged consequences of the processing 
for  them.  They  also  have  the  right  in  such  cases  to  obtain  human  intervention,  to  express  their  point  of 
view and to contest the decision.  
COM(2017) 10. 
https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/high-level-expert-group-artificial-intelligence 
https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/european-ai-alliance 

2 

 
 
                                                           
The  AI  high-level  expert  group  published  a  first  draft  of  the  ethics  guidelines  in  December 
2018.  Following  a  stakeholder  consultation9  and  meetings  with  representatives  from 
Member States10, the AI expert group has delivered a revised document to the Commission 
in  March  2019.  In  their  feedback  so  far,  stakeholders  overall  have  welcomed  the  practical 
nature  of  the  guidelines  and  the  concrete  guidance  they  offer  to  developers,  suppliers  and 
users of AI on how to ensure trustworthiness. 

2.1. Guidelines for trustworthy AI drafted by the AI high-level expert group 

The  guidelines  drafted  by  the  AI  high-level  expert  group,  to  which  this  Communication 
refers11, build in particular on the work done by the European Group on Ethics in Science and 
New Technologies and the Fundamental Rights Agency. 

The  guidelines  postulate  that  in  order  to  achieve  ‘trustworthy  AI’,  three  components  are 
necessary: (1) it should comply with the law, (2)  it should fulfil ethical principles and (3) it 
should be robust. 

Based on these three components and the European values set out in section 2, the guidelines 
identify  seven  key  requirements  that  AI  applications  should  respect  to  be  considered 
trustworthy.  The  guidelines  also  include  an  assessment  list  to  help  check  whether  these 
requirements are fulfilled. 

The seven key requirements are: 

  Human agency and oversight  

  Technical robustness and safety 

  Privacy and data governance  

  Transparency  

  Diversity, non-discrimination and fairness 

  Societal and environmental well-being 

  Accountability 

While  these  requirements  are  intended  to  apply  to  all  AI  systems  in  different  settings  and 
industries, the specific context in which they are applied should be taken into account for their 
concrete and proportionate implementation, taking an impact-based approach. For illustration, 
AI application suggesting an unsuitable book to read is much less perilous than misdiagnosing 
a cancer and could therefore be subject to less stringent supervision.  

The guidelines drafted by the AI high-level expert group are non-binding and as such do not 
create any new legal obligations. However,  many existing (and often use- or domain-specific) 

9  

10  

11  

individuals  and  others.  A  summary  of 

This  consultation  resulted  in  comments  from  511  organisations,  associations,  companies,  research 
institutes, 
is  available  at: 
https://ec.europa.eu/futurium/en/system/files/ged/consultation_feedback_on_draft_ai_ethics_guidelines_4.
pdf 
The  work  of  the  expert  group  was  positively  received  by  Member  States,  with  the  Council  conclusions 
adopted on 18 February 2019  inter alia taking note of the forthcoming publication of the ethics guidelines 
and  supporting  the  Commission's  effort  to  bring  an  EU  ethical  approach  to  the  global  stage: 
https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-6177-2019-INIT/en/pdf 
https://ec.europa.eu/futurium/en/ai-alliance-consultation/guidelines#Top 

feedback 

received 

the 

3 

 
 
 
                                                           
 
provisions of Union law of course already reflect one or several of these key requirements, for 
example safety, personal data protection, privacy or environmental protection rules. 

The  Commission  welcomes  the  work  of  the  AI  high-level  expert  group  and  considers  it 
valuable input for its policy-making. 

2.2. Key requirements for trustworthy AI  

The Commission supports the following key requirements for trustworthy AI, which are 
based on European values. It encourages stakeholders to apply the requirements and to test the 
assessment list that operationalises them in order to create the right environment of trust for 
the  successful  development  and  use  of  AI.  The  Commission  welcomes  feedback  from 
stakeholders  to  evaluate  whether  this  assessment  list  provided  in  the  guidelines  requires 
further adjustment. 

I.  Human agency and oversight 

AI  systems  should  support  individuals  in  making  better,  more  informed  choices  in 
accordance  with  their  goals.  They  should  act  as  enablers  to  a  flourishing  and  equitable 
society by supporting human agency and fundamental rights, and not decrease, limit or 
misguide  human  autonomy.  The  overall  wellbeing  of  the  user  should  be  central  to  the 
system's functionality.  

Human oversight helps ensuring that an AI system does not undermine human autonomy 
or  causes  other  adverse  effects.  Depending  on  the  specific  AI-based  system  and  its 
application area, the appropriate degrees of control measures, including the adaptability, 
accuracy and explainability of AI-based systems, should be ensured12. Oversight may be 
achieved through governance mechanisms such as ensuring a human-in-the-loop, human-
on-the-loop, or human-in-command approach.13 It must be ensured that public authorities 
have the ability to  exercise their oversight  powers in  line with  their mandates. All  other 
things being equal, the less oversight a human can exercise over an AI system, the more 
extensive testing and stricter governance is required.  

II.  Technical robustness and safety 

Trustworthy AI requires algorithms to be secure, reliable and robust enough to deal with 
errors or inconsistencies during all life cycle phases of the AI system, and to adequately 
cope  with  erroneous  outcomes.  AI  systems  need  to  be  reliable,  secure  enough  to  be 

12   The  General  Data  Protection  Regulation  gives  individuals  the  right  not  to  be  subject  to  a  decision  based 
solely on automated processing when this produces legal effects on users or similarly significantly affects 
them (Article 22 GDPR). 

13   Human-in-the-loop (HITL) refers to the human intervention in every decision cycle of the system, which in 
many cases is neither possible nor desirable. Human-on-the-loop (HOTL) refers to the capability for human 
intervention  during  the  design  cycle  of  the  system  and  monitoring  the  system’s  operation.  Human-in-
command  (HIC)  refers  to  the  capability  to  oversee  the  overall  activity  of  the  AI  system  (including  its 
broader  economic,  societal,  legal  and  ethical  impact)  and  the  ability  to  decide  when  and  how  to  use  the 
system  in  any  particular  situation.  This  can  include  the  decision  not  to  use  an  AI  system  in  a  particular 
situation,  to  establish  levels  of  human  discretion  during  the  use  of  the  system,  or  to  ensure  the  ability  to 
override a decision made by the system. 

4 

 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                           
resilient  against  both  overt  attacks  and  more  subtle  attempts  to  manipulate  data  or 
algorithms themselves, and they must ensure a fall-back plan in case of problems. Their 
decisions must be accurate, or at least correctly reflect their level of accuracy, and their 
outcomes should be reproducible.  

In  addition,  AI  systems  should  integrate  safety  and  security-by-design  mechanisms  to 
ensure that they are verifiably safe at every step, taking at heart the physical and mental 
safety  of  all  concerned.  This  includes  the  minimisation  and  where  possible  the 
reversibility of unintended consequences or errors in the system’s operation. Processes to 
clarify  and  assess  potential  risks  associated  with  the  use  of  AI  systems,  across  various 
application areas, should be put in place. 

III.  Privacy and Data Governance 

Privacy  and  data  protection  must  be  guaranteed  at  all  stages  of  the  AI  system’s  life 
cycle.  Digital  records  of  human  behaviour  may  allow  AI  systems  to  infer  not  only 
individuals’  preferences,  age  and  gender  but  also  their  sexual  orientation,  religious  or 
political views. To allow individuals to trust the data processing, it must be ensured that 
they have full control over their own data, and that data concerning them will not be used 
to harm or discriminate against them. 

In  addition  to  safeguarding  privacy  and  personal  data,  requirements  must  be  fulfilled  to 
ensure  high  quality  AI  systems.  The  quality  of  the  data  sets  used  is  paramount  to  the 
performance  of  AI  systems.  When  data  is  gathered,  it  may  reflect  socially  constructed 
biases,  or  contain  inaccuracies,  errors  and  mistakes.  This  needs  to  be  addressed  prior  to 
training an AI system with any given data set.  In addition, the integrity of the data must 
be ensured. Processes and data sets used must be tested and documented at each step such 
as planning, training, testing and deployment.  This  should also apply to  AI systems  that 
were not developed in-house but acquired elsewhere. Finally, the access to data must be 
adequately governed and controlled. 

IV.  Transparency  

The  traceability  of  AI  systems  should  be  ensured;  it  is  important  to  log  and  document 
both  the  decisions  made  by  the  systems,  as  well  as  the  entire  process  (including  a 
description of data gathering and labelling, and a description of the  algorithm used) that 
yielded  the  decisions.  Linked  to  this,  explainability  of  the  algorithmic  decision-making 
process,  adapted  to  the  persons  involved,  should  be  provided  to  the  extent  possible. 
Ongoing  research  to  develop  explainability  mechanisms  should  be  pursued.  In  addition, 
explanations of the degree to which an AI system influences and shapes the organisational 
decision-making  process,  design  choices  of  the  system,  as  well  as  the  rationale  for 
deploying it, should be  available (hence  ensuring not  just data and system  transparency, 
but also business model transparency).  

Finally,  it  is  important  to  adequately  communicate  the  AI  system’s  capabilities  and 
limitations to the different stakeholders involved in a manner appropriate to the use case at 
hand. Moreover, AI systems should be identifiable as such, ensuring that users know they 
are interacting with an AI system and which persons are responsible for it.  

V.  Diversity, non-discrimination and fairness 

5 

 
 
 
 
 
Data  sets  used  by  AI  systems  (both  for  training  and  operation)  may  suffer  from  the 
inclusion  of  inadvertent  historic  bias,  incompleteness  and  bad  governance  models.  The 
continuation  of  such  biases  could  lead  to  (in)direct  discrimination.  Harm  can  also  result 
from  the  intentional  exploitation  of  (consumer)  biases  or  by  engaging  in  unfair 
competition. Moreover, the way in which AI systems are developed (e.g. the way in which 
the  programming  code  of  an  algorithm  is  written)  may  also  suffer  from  bias.  Such 
concerns should be tackled from the beginning of the system’ development. 

Establishing diverse design teams and setting up mechanisms ensuring participation, in 
particular  of  citizens,  in  AI  development  can  also  help  to  address  these  concerns.  It  is 
advisable to consult stakeholders who may directly or indirectly be affected by the system 
throughout its life cycle. AI systems should consider the whole range of human abilities, 
skills  and  requirements,  and  ensure  accessibility  through  a  universal  design  approach  to 
strive to achieve equal access for persons with disabilities.  

VI.  Societal and environmental well-being 

For  AI  to  be  trustworthy,  its  impact  on  the  environment  and  other  sentient  beings 
should  be  taken  into  account.  Ideally,  all  humans,  including  future  generations,  should 
benefit  from  biodiversity  and  a  habitable  environment.  Sustainability  and  ecological 
responsibility  of  AI  systems  should  hence  be  encouraged.  The  same  applies  to  AI 
solutions  addressing  areas  of  global  concern,  such  as  for  instance  the  UN  Sustainable 
Development Goals.  

Furthermore, the impact of AI systems should be considered not only from an individual 
perspective, but also from the perspective of  society as a whole. The use of AI systems 
should be given careful consideration particularly in situations relating to the democratic 
process,  including  opinion-formation,  political  decision-making  or  electoral  contexts. 
Moreover,  AI’s  social  impact  should  be  considered.  While  AI  systems  can  be  used  to 
enhance social skills, they can equally contribute to their deterioration. 

VII.  Accountability 

Mechanisms  should  be  put  in  place  to  ensure  responsibility  and  accountability  for  AI 
systems  and their outcomes, both  before and after their implementation.  Auditability of 
AI systems is key in this regard, as the assessment of AI systems by internal and external 
auditors,  and  the  availability  of  such  evaluation  reports,  strongly  contributes  to  the 
trustworthiness  of  the  technology.  External  auditability  should  especially  be  ensured  in 
applications affecting fundamental rights, including safety-critical applications.  

Potential negative impacts of AI systems should be identified, assessed, documented and 
minimised.  The  use  of  impact  assessments  facilitates  this  process.  These  assessments 
should  be  proportionate  to  the  extent  of  the  risks  that  the  AI  systems  pose.  Trade-offs 
between  the  requirements  –  which  are  often  unavoidable  –  should  be  addressed  in  a 
rational  and  methodological  manner,  and  should  be  accounted  for.  Finally,  when  unjust 
adverse  impact  occurs,  accessible  mechanisms  should  be  foreseen  that  ensure  adequate 
redress.  

2.3. Next steps: a piloting phase involving stakeholders on the widest scale 

6 

 
 
 
 
 
Reaching consensus on these key requirements for AI systems is a first important milestone 
towards  guidelines  for  ethical  AI.  As  a  next  step,  the  Commission  will  ensure  that  this 
guidance can be tested and implemented in practice. 

To  this  end,  the  Commission  will  now  launch  a  targeted  piloting  phase  designed  to  obtain 
structured  feedback  from  stakeholders.  This  exercise  will  focus  in  particular  on  the 
assessment  list  which  the  high-level  expert  group  has  drawn  up  for  each  of  the  key 
requirements. 

This work will have two strands: (i) a piloting phase for the guidelines involving stakeholders 
who  develop  or  use  AI,  including  public  administrations,  and  (ii)  a  continued  stakeholder 
consultation  and  awareness-raising  process  across  Member  States  and  different  groups  of 
stakeholders, including industry and service sectors: 

(i)  Starting  in  June  2019,  all  stakeholders  and  individuals  will  be  invited  to  test  the 
assessment list and provide feedback on how to improve it. In addition, the AI high-
level expert group will set up an in-depth review with stakeholders from the private 
and the public sector to gather more detailed feedback on how the guidelines can be 
implemented in a wide range of application domains. All feedback on the guidelines’ 
workability and feasibility will be evaluated by the end of 2019.    

(ii) 

In  parallel,  the  Commission  will  organise  further  outreach  activities,  giving 
representatives  of  the  AI  high-level  expert  group  the  opportunity  to  present  the 
guidelines  to  relevant  stakeholders  in  the  Member  States,  including  industry  and 
service  sectors,  and  providing  these  stakeholders  with  an  additional  opportunity  to 
comment on and contribute to the AI guidelines.  

The  Commission  will  take  into  account  the  work  of  the  group  of  experts  on  ethics  for 
connected  and  automated  driving14  and  work  with  EU-funded  research  projects  on  AI  and 
with  relevant  public-private  partnerships  on  implementing  the  key  requirements15.  For 
example, the Commission will support, in coordination with Member States, the development 
of  a  common  database  of  health  images  initially  dedicated  to  the  most  common  forms  of 
cancer,  so  that  algorithms  can  be  trained  to  diagnose  symptoms  with  very  high  accuracy. 
Similarly,  the  cooperation  of  the  Commission  and  Member  States  enables  an  increasing 
number  of  cross-border  corridors  for  testing  connected  and  automated  vehicles.  The 
guidelines  should  be  applied  in  these  projects  and  tested,  and  the  results  will  feed  into  the 
evaluation process. 

The piloting phase and the stakeholder consultation will benefit from the contribution of the 
European  AI  Alliance  and  AI4EU,  the  AI  on-demand  platform.  The  AI4EU  project16, 
launched  in  January  2019,  brings  together  algorithms,  tools,  datasets  and  services  to  help 
organisations,  in  particular  small  and  medium-size  enterprises,  to  implement  AI  solutions. 
The European AI Alliance, together with AI4EU, will continue to mobilise the AI ecosystem 
across Europe, also in view of piloting the AI ethics guidelines and promoting the respect for 
human-centric AI. 

At the beginning of 2020, building on the evaluation of feedback received during the piloting 
phase, the AI high-level expert group will review and update the guidelines. Based on the 

14  
15  

16  

See the Commission’s Communication on connected and automated mobility, COM(2018) 283. 
In  the  Framework  of  the  European  Defence  Fund,  the  Commission  will  also  develop  specific  ethical 
guidance for the evaluation of project proposals in the area of AI for defence. 
https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/news/artificial-intelligence-ai4eu-project-launches-1-january-
2019 

7 

 
 
                                                           
review  and  on  the  experience  acquired,  the  Commission  will  evaluate  the  outcome  and 
propose any next steps.  

Ethical  AI  is  a  win-win  proposition.  Guaranteeing  the  respect  for  fundamental  values  and 
rights is not only essential in itself,  it also facilitates acceptance by the public and increases 
the  competitive  advantage  of  European  AI  companies  by  establishing  a  brand  of  human-
centric, trustworthy AI known for ethical and secure products. This builds more generally on 
the strong reputation of European companies for providing safe and secure products of high 
quality. The pilot phase will help to ensure that AI products fulfil this promise. 

2.4. Towards international AI ethics guidelines 

International  discussions  on  AI  ethics  have  intensified  after  Japan’s  G7  Presidency  put  the 
topic high on the agenda in 2016. Given the international interlinkages of AI development in 
investments,  the 
terms  of  data  circulation,  algorithmic  development  and  research 
Commission  will  continue  its  efforts  to  bring  the  Union’s  approach  to  the  global  stage 
and build a consensus on a human-centric AI17. 

The  work  done  by  the  AI  high-level  expert  group,  and  more  specifically  the  list  of 
requirements  and  the  engagement  process  with  stakeholders,  provides  the  Commission  with 
additional  valuable  input  for  contributing  to  the  international  discussions.  The  European 
Union can have a leadership role in developing international AI guidelines and, if possible, a 
related assessment mechanism. 

Therefore, the Commission will: 

Strengthen cooperation with like-minded partners: 

  exploring the extent to  which convergence  can  be achieved with  third  countries’ draft 
ethics  guidelines  (e.g.  Japan,  Canada,  Singapore)  and,  building  on  this  group  of  like-
minded  countries,  to  prepare  for  a  broader  discussion,  supported  by  actions 
implementing the Partnership Instrument for cooperation with Third Countries18; and 

  exploring  how  companies  from  non-EU  countries  and  international  organisations  can 

contribute to the ‘pilot phase’ of the guidelines through testing and validation. 

Continue to play an active role in international discussions and initiatives: 

  contributing to multilateral fora such as the G7 and G20; 

  engaging  in  dialogues  with  non-EU  countries  and  organising  bilateral  and  multilateral 

meetings to build a consensus on human-centric AI; 

17  

18  

The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy will, with the support of the 
Commission, build on consultations in the United Nations, the Global Tech Panel, and other multilateral 
fora, and in particular coordinate proposals for addressing the complex security challenges involved.     
Regulation  (EU)  No  234/2014  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  11  March  2014 
establishing a Partnership Instrument for cooperation with third countries (OJ L 77, 15.3.2014, p. 77). For 
instance  the  planned  project  on  ‘An  international  alliance  for  a  human-centric  approach  to  artificial 
intelligence’  will  facilitate  joint  initiatives  with  like-minded  partners,  in  order  to  promote  ethical 
guidelines and to adopt common principles and operational conclusions. It  will enable  the EU and  like-
minded countries to discuss operational conclusions resulting from the ethical guidelines on AI proposed 
by the  expert  group in order to reach a common approach. Moreover, it will provide for  monitoring the 
uptake  of  AI  technology  globally.  Finally,  the  project  plans  to  organise  public  diplomacy  activities 
accompanying international events e.g. by  the G7, G20 and the  Organisation  for Economic  Cooperation 
and Development.  

8 

 
 
 
                                                           
  contributing to relevant standardisation activities in international standards development 

organisations to promote this vision; and 

  strengthening the collection and diffusion of insights on public policies, working jointly 

with relevant international organisations. 

3.  CONCLUSIONS 

The EU is founded on a set of fundamental values and has constructed a strong and balanced 
regulatory framework on these foundations. Building on this existing regulatory framework, 
there is a need for ethics guidelines for the development and use of AI due to its novelty and 
the specific challenges this technology brings. Only if AI is developed and used in a way that 
respects widely-shared ethical values, it can be considered trustworthy. 

With a view to this objective, the Commission welcomes the input prepared by the AI high-
level  expert  group.  Based  on  the  key  requirements  for  AI  to  be  considered  trustworthy,  the 
Commission  will  now  launch  a  targeted  piloting  phase  to  ensure  that  the  resulting  ethical 
guidelines for AI development and use can be implemented in practice. The Commission will 
also  work  to  forge  a  broad  societal  consensus  on  human-centric  AI,  including  with  all 
involved stakeholders and our international partners. 

The ethical dimension of AI is not a luxury feature or an add-on: it needs to be an integral part 
of  AI  development.  By  striving  towards  human-centric  AI  based  on  trust,  we  safeguard  the 
respect for our core societal values and carve out a distinctive trademark for Europe and its 
industry as a leader in cutting-edge AI that can be trusted throughout the world. 

To  ensure  the  ethical  development  of  AI  in  Europe  in  its  wider  context,  the  Commission  is 
pursuing a comprehensive approach including in particular the following lines of action to be 
implemented by the third quarter of 2019:  

 

 

It  will  start  launching  a  set  of  networks  of  AI  research  excellence  centres  through 
Horizon 2020. It will select up to four networks, focusing on scientific or technological 
major  challenges  such  as  explainability  and  advanced  human-machine  interaction, 
which are key ingredients for trustworthy AI. 
It  will  begin  setting  up  networks  of  digital  innovation  hubs19  focussing  on  AI  in 
manufacturing and on big data. 

  Together with Member States and stakeholders, the Commission will start preparatory 
discussions to develop and implement a model for data sharing and making best use 
of  common  data  spaces,  with  a  focus  notably  on  transport,  healthcare  and  industrial 
manufacturing.20  

In  addition,  the  Commission  is  working  on  a  report  on  the  challenges  posed  by  AI  to  the 
safety  and  liability  frameworks  and  a  guidance  document  on  the  implementation  of  the 
Product Liability Directive21. At the same time, the European High-Performance Computing 
Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC)22 will develop the next generation of supercomputers because 

19  
20  

21  
22  

http://s3platform.jrc.ec.europa.eu/digital-innovation-hubs 
The necessary resources will be mobilised from Horizon 2020 (under which close to 1.5 billion EUR are 
dedicated to AI for the period 2018-2020) and its planned successor Horizon Europe, the Digital part of 
the  Connecting  Europe  Facility  and  especially  the  future  Digital  Europe  Programme.  Projects  will  also 
draw on resources from the private sector and Member State programmes.  
See the Commission’s Communication Artificial Intelligence for Europe, COM (2018) 237. 
https://eurohpc-ju.europa.eu 

9 

 
 
 
                                                           
computing  capacity  is  essential  for  processing  data  and  training  AI  and  Europe  needs  to 
master the full digital value chain. The ongoing partnership with Member States and industry 
on  microelectronic  components  and  systems  (ECSEL)23  as  well  as  the  European  Processor 
Initiative24  will  contribute  to  the  development  of  low-power  processor  technology  for 
trustworthy and secure high-performance and edge computing.   

Just like the work on ethical guidelines for AI, all these initiatives build on close cooperation 
of all concerned stakeholders, Member States, industry, societal actors and citizens. Overall, 
Europe’s  approach  to  Artificial  Intelligence  shows  how  economic  competitiveness  and 
societal trust must start from the same fundamental values and mutually reinforce each other. 

23  
24  

www.ecsel.eu 
www.european-processor-initiative.eu 

10