Homo ex machina. Artificial Intelligence in a Brave New World—A Glimpse from Europe

There is no area of human activity that would function today without the involvement of AI technologies. AI, a driving force of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, penetrates modern human life with ever-increasing intensity. As it is claimed, it brings about decision-making efficiency and performance accuracy that has never existed before. At the same time, artificial intelligence creates far-reaching dangers to almost every aspect of the modern world. From the legal point of view, the most eminent ones include: the bias stemming from the inherited historical data that AI tends to repeat and multiply, the problem of the lack of transparency (the “black-box society”) that makes it impossible for a human being to understand how AI arrived at a decision, and the elimination of the human being from the decision-making process, which rises the issue of appropriateness and legitimacy. AI can only be developed when sufficient amount of data is available, and hence the article elaborates on the fundamental role that data plays for the modern world, and how transnational corporations set global rules in relation to collection and access to data in a process that lacks democratic accountability and questions the position of states. The article ends with presenting the UE attempts to address the issues that arise in relation to the unrestricted access to data, invasion of privacy and threats posed by artificial intelligence. It also elaborates on the prominent position that the artificial intelligence holds on the EU political agenda and presents political and legislative actions undertaken by the European Union in this regard.