The European Parliament has disabled AI features on tablets that it provides to lawmakers, citing security concerns, according to an email sent to MEPs on Monday, APA reports, citing Euractiv.
The email states that the decision to block artificial intelligence tools – such as writing aids and virtual assistants – was taken based on recommendations from the Parliament’s cybersecurity and personal data protection teams.
“The assessments performed evidenced that some of these [AI] features use cloud services to carry out tasks that could be handled locally, sending data off the device,” it read, noting that an assessment of the evolving features – to understand “the full extent of data shared with service providers” – was ongoing.
“Until this is fully clarified, it is considered safer to keep such features disabled,” it added.
Per the email, only “built-in AI features” like writing and summarising assistants, enhanced virtual assistants, and webpage summaries have been turned off, while third-party apps and other day-to-day tools are apparently unaffected, despite such software potentially incorporating AI features.
It’s unclear whether the Parliament’s action means in-app AI features remain accessible or have also been blocked – the institution did not immediately reply to Euractiv‘s question about this.
In the email, Parliament’s directorate-general for information gave several recommendations for how lawmakers should handle AI on their personal devices, to which the institution does not have the same level of access as it does to the Parliament-issued tablets.
“Please consider applying similar precautions to your private devices,” the email warned.
It recommends that MEPs review AI settings on their personal devices and disable any features they don’t need. Lawmakers should also limit app permissions to the strictly necessary settings and avoid exposing work emails or documents to AI features.
The security step comes as Europe is increasingly questioning its dependence on overseas, mainly US-run digital tech platforms. One large driver for such debates is US laws, like the Cloud Act, under which US authorities can access Europeans’ data.
In recent years, large cloud providers have responded to security and sovereignty concerns with localisation moves, telling EU customers they can be trusted by claiming to be holding their personal data on EU-localised services. But last year, Microsoft was forced to admit that it could not guarantee Europeans’ data was safe from US snooping.
Similar concerns are now playing out over AI – a data-hungry technology which nudges users to provide granular access to highly personal and even sensitive information.
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