Legal Issues

‘Whoever becomes the ruler of AI will become the ruler of the world,’ said Vladimir Putin in September 2017. The USA, Russia and China are all adamant that artificial intelligence (AI) will be the key technology underpinning their national power in the future.What place, then, is there for Europe in this context? The European Commission has recently set out a European initiative on AI which focuses on boosting the EU's technological and industrial capacity, developing an innovation ecosystem, ensuring the establishment of an appropriate legal and ethical framework, and preparing for socio-economic changes. This edition of the Foresight Brief presents the results of a mapping exercise on AI’s impact on the world of work. It looks at the issues of work organisation and infrastructure, introduces the idea of ‘AI literacy’ for the workforce (as a necessary complement to technical reskilling), and details several AI risks for companies and workers. It also looks at aspects related to algorithmic decision making and the necessary establishment of an ethical and legal framework.

EU agencies are clearly ‘on the move’: they both are increasingly proliferating and obtaining more and more discretionary powers. Yet, both the mushrooming of EU agencies and the increasingly broad powers that are conferred upon them raise questions regarding their constitutionality, their legal basis, the powers that can be delegated to them as well as the very reason for the existence of EU agencies, their independence and accountability. This paper will critically analyse these issues.
It will first discuss the evolution of agencies in the EU’s institutional setting (section 2). Subsequently, it will examine the legal concerns that arise with increased reliance on EU agencies: their position in the
constitutional framework, their legal basis and delegation of powers to them (section 3). It will then examine their independence and accountability (section 4). In conclusion, it will highlight remaining challenges that arise from resorting to EU agencies (section 5).