Ref. Ares(2024)926415 - 07/02/2024
KEY messages/LTT
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
AI solutions can offer great opportunities for businesses and
citizens but can also pose risks.
As mentioned in President von der Leyen’s State of the Union
letter of intent, Europe should lead global efforts on artificial
intel igence, guiding innovation, setting guardrails and
developing global governance.
Therefore, the AI Act proposal is expected to foster innovation
and to provide legal certainty for all providers of AI systems
following a proportionate and risk-based approach.
This approach will give citizens and business confidence in AI,
knowing that it is safe and respects fundamental rights and
European values.
The trilogue negotiations have started on 14 June. General
Purpose, high-risk use cases and the prohibitions are among the
debated topics.
Europe has pioneered clear rules for AI. This approach will serve
as inspiration for global rules and principles for trustworthy AI.
EU Digital Identity Wallet and Digital Euro
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Ecodesign
The Ecodesign & Energy Labelling of mobile phones & tablets
are expected to ensure that these devices save more than a
third of their primary energy consumption by 2030, as well as
reduce the need for primary raw materials.
(specifically on the Apple’s point): As an effect of the
requirements laid down in the Ecodesign regulation,
manufacturers will have to equip their devices choosing
between batteries that are:
o removable by any layperson with basic tools ('reparability
path'), or
o long-lasting, i.e. not having a deterioration of more than
20% of their capacity after 1000 cycles of
charge/discharge ('durability path')1.
o The formulation of the above requirements on battery
leaves room of manoeuvre to the manufacturer, in order
to choose the best design strategy to comply with the
requirements, and without impinging product safety,
allowing at the same time to attain the ambitious
environmental objectives laid down for mobile phones
and tablets in the Circular Economy Action Plan 2020.
Defensives / Q&A
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
The AI Act should not have specific rules for general-purpose AI as
this goes against the risk-based approach and will stifle innovation.
The Commission follows closely the latest developments with
general-purpose AI systems that have gained a lot of public
attention lately.
There seems to be a consensus between the EU co-legislators
that targeted rules are needed for these powerful large models.
Considering that these models are expected to be integrated or
used in a very large number of AI based products, it is
important that downstream providers can effectively ensure
1 Batteries shall be in any case removable and refurbishable by experts, at least with the use of commercial tools
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compliance of their systems with the AI Act. It is clear that these
AI systems are too powerful and important for the future of our
economy and society not to be regulated. That’s also something
increasingly recognised by those developing them who agree
with the need for safety and ethical safeguards and regulatory
oversight.
Semiconductors
What is the state of play of the EU Chips Act?
The European Chips Act was published in the Official Journal of the
European Union on the 18th of September, entering into force three
days after publication, on the 21st September. To respond to critical
dependencies, the Act will strengthen manufacturing activities in the
Union, stimulate its design ecosystem, support scale-up and
innovation across the whole value chain, and set up a mechanism for
coordination and response to critical shortages. Overall, the Union
aims to reach the target of doubling its current global market share
to 20% in value in 2030.
Decision-
making
process
Ecodesign & Energy Labelling of mobile phones & Tablets
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Could the new rules imply a potential overproduction resulting in
wasted resources, reduced material efficiency and higher costs for
the consumer?
Our analysis shows that the negative environmental impact
associated with the manufacturing of spare parts is vastly offset by
environmental benefits (in terms of fewer new devices to be
manufactured, because the current ones are repairable). In general
terms, having less new devices to be placed on the market in
substitution of the broken and or older ones will also translate in an
economic benefit for users. The Commission estimates a reduced
annual consumer expenditure of ~ EUR 20 billion in 2030.
The choice of the list of spare parts to be made available was done
taking into account the ‘likelihood of failure’ of the component,
together with the environmental impact associated to the
manufacturing of the spare part itself. In particular, mainboards are
not included in the list of spare parts, as they are associated with
most significant environmental impact.
Background information
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Apple & AI
Apple is the most valuable technology company in the world worth around $2.82 trillion
(June 2023). Apple is making significant efforts to enter the world of AI. However, Apple is
not necessarily seen as leader in this field the same way Google and Facebook are.
According to CEO Tim Cook: ‘Machine learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence are important
to Apple's future’. Apple claims to use ML to ‘enhance […] experience and […] privacy’.
Apple uses Artificial Intelligence technologies in numerous domains, for example in its
announced “Vision Pro”, a $ 3.500 mixed-reality headset device, which uses an iris-scan for
authentication. Other examples of past AI technologies are ‘FaceID’, which identifies users
with a sensor to unlock their phones or fall/crash detection on the iPhone and Apple Watch.
Apple’s main AI divisions are the Siri team, and the Core ML team, focusing on natural
language processing (NLP) and computer vision.
Apple has not yet publicly announced work on generative AI and might wait observe the
market first. However, there are reports (March 2023) about Apple testing new natural
language generating features (codenamed “Bobcat”) which it might use to improve Siri.
Apple is one of the co-founders of the Partnership on AI, a non-profit organisation that is
committed to safety-critical, fair, transparent, and accountable use of AI.
State of play on AI Act
Following the Commission’s proposal for the AI Act of April 2021, the Council unanimously
adopted a general approach on the AI Act on 6 December 2022 and the European Parliament
adopted its mandate on 14 June. With the first trilogue on 14 June the intra-institutional
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Ecodesign & Energy Labelling of mobile phones & Tablets
New rules to help consumers make informed and eco-friendly choices when buying mobile
phones and tablets have been recently finalised (Ecodesign Regulation (EU) 2023/1670 and
energy label ing regulation (EU) 2023/1669). The requirements will enter into application as
of 20 June 2025.
Based on the commitments of the Circular Economy Action Plan 2020, the Regulations set
compulsory requirements for mobile phones and tablets regarding:
design for reliability (resistance to accidental drops, scratch resistance, protection
from dust and water, battery longevity)
ability of the product to be disassembled and repaired (such as availability of
critical spare parts),
availability of operating system version upgrades
data deletion and transfer functionalities
provision of appropriate information for users, repairers and recyclers
non-discriminatory access for professional repairers to any software or firmware
needed for the replacement.
The Energy Label (for smartphones and slate tablets) foresees the display of information on
the energy efficiency of the device together with information on the device reparability
score, the battery longevity, the protection to dust and water ingress, and the ‘repeated free
fall reliability’ (i.e. how many falls the device can withstand remaining operational).
Contact:
Artificial Intelligence
Personal
data
EU Digital Identity Wallet and Digital Euro
Semiconductors
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On the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) proposal
Personal
data
Ecodesign & Energy Label ing of mobile phones & Tablets
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