Susanna Lindroos-Hovinheimo wrote a blog post to the European Law Blog on 12.9.2023. Below is a brief summary of the text:

Negotiations on the EU's artificial intelligence regulation are ongoing and the topic is widely discussed. However, children's rights have not been given special consideration in the preparation process. Although the regulation proposal has developed in the direction of taking fundamental rights into account, the articles of the regulation have not been written with child protection in mind.

The weakness of the positions of the Commission, Council and Parliament from the perspective of protecting children's rights is that children are rarely mentioned in the proposed articles. This raises doubts about how the regulation will in practice affect children in the context of artificial intelligence.

The weakness of the positions of the Commission, Council and Parliament from the perspective of protecting children's rights is that children are rarely mentioned in the proposed articles. This raises doubts about how the regulation will in practice affect children in the context of artificial intelligence.

For example, the proposed regulation drafts do not contain references to the best interests of the child or respect for children's views. It is important to note that the artificial intelligence regulation will be an instrument for complete harmonization of legislation across the EU area.

This means that member states cannot set their own rules for artificial intelligence systems. Children's rights cannot be protected more extensively or differently than the artificial intelligence regulation allows. For this reason alone, it would be desirable for child protection to be given better consideration in the preparation of the regulation.