The CAHAI Secretariat co-ordinated a contribution by the Council of Europe Secretariat to the European Commission's White Paper. This contribution brought together the perspectives of the Directorate General of Human Rights and the Rule of Law (DG1), as well as those of the Directorate General of Democracy (DG2). In particular, it emerged that the establishment of a regulatory framework for AI based on human rights and fundamental freedoms should take into account multiple dimensions.

While economic growth remains an important public policy objective and innovation one of its key components, Council of Europe member States have an obligation to ensure that the fundamental values of human rights, democracy and the rule of law remain effectively anchored in appropriate legislative frameworks and applied throughout ongoing societal and technological developments.

The Council of Europe thus helps them to achieve this objective both through a specialised (vertical) approach, by developing instruments adapted to the specific challenges posed by the use of AI in each policy area (e.g. justice, democracy, autonomous vehicles, biomedicine), as well as through a transversal (horizontal) approach aimed at identifying common principles and general actions to be undertaken. The Ad Hoc Committee on Artificial Intelligence (CAHAI) has been engaged since September 2019 in a feasibility study for a legal instrument on this technology.

• Click here to download to the contribution of the Council of Europe