Verbatim report of proceedings

Monday, 4 October 2021 - Strasbourg

Artificial intelligence in criminal law and its use by the police and judicial authorities in criminal matters (debate)

  Dragoş Tudorache, on behalf of the Renew Group. – Mr President, dear Commissioner, dear colleagues, the use of artificial intelligence in law enforcement is a political decision, not a technical one. Our duty is to apply our political worldview to determine what are the allowed uses of artificial intelligence and under which conditions. Europe is built on a set of values. They constrain the realm of the possible, dictating what we cannot do. And our values also guide our way into the future, dictating what we can and what we should do.

What we cannot do is to allow the use of technology to lead to a breach of our values. We must only allow AI technologies to be used with straight safeguards and oversight, and we must ensure that human rights are protected throughout.

What we also cannot do is to allow authorities to use technology for mass surveillance, mass social scoring or any type of government control over citizens. We must be doubly cautious in protecting our values when dealing with law enforcement, as law enforcement is the prerogative of the state.

On the other hand, what we can – and should – do is to seek to use AI to reduce the biases and discriminations plaguing our society, including in law enforcement. Technology is a tool. We should invest in it until it is good enough to serve our values. What we also can and should do is ensure law enforcement is competitive and has the best tools at its disposal to fight crime. Fighting crime is also a way to protect our values and should be a top priority for us.

We must therefore strengthen the democratic fibre and resilience of our institutions. And tomorrow’s challenges will not come from the tools themselves but from our ability or inability to use them in accordance with our values.