What rights does the AI Act give to individuals?
Any natural or legal person who has reason to believe that the provisions of the AI Act have been infringed may lodge a complaint with the Market Surveillance Authority. The Market Surveillance Authority takes such complaints into account when carrying out its market surveillance activities.
In addition, any affected person who is subject to a decision taken by the deployer on the basis of the output of a high-risk AI system listed in Annex III, other than those listed in point 2 of Annex III (critical infrastructure AI systems), and which has legal effects or similarly significantly affects that person in a way that he considers to have adverse effects on his health, safety and fundamental rights, shall have the right to obtain from the deployer a clear and reasonable explanation of the role of the AI system in the decision-making process and the main elements of the decision taken.
The right to an explanation of the decision-making process is only provided for AI systems for which this right is not provided for in other EU legislation (e.g. personal data protection legislation). The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) contains a similar provision, but only for cases of processing of personal data, and the provision of the AI Act complements it and provides for a comparable right also for AI systems where no processing of personal data takes place.
Relevant Articles: 85, 86, Recitals 170 and 171
Do all organisations wishing to use AI systems have to ensure that their employees are AI literate?
Yes, the obligation on AI literacy does not only apply to providers and deployers of high-risk systems, but providers and deployers of all AI systems must take steps to ensure, as far as possible, that their staff, as well as other persons, have a sufficient level of AI literacy, who, on their behalf, are involved in the operation and use of the AI systems, in the field of AI, taking into account their technical knowledge, experience, education and training and the environment in which the AI systems will be used, as well as the persons or groups of persons in relation to whom the systems will be used.
The purpose of this provision is to equip employees who develop or use AI in their work with the skills, knowledge and understanding to enable them to implement AI systems in an informed manner, while being aware of the opportunities and risks in the field of AI and the potential harm it may cause.
Read more about AI literacy on the EC website.
Relevant Articles: 4