European AI standardisation in the context of the EU AI Act

Description

The recording of this event is now available at the bottom of this page.

In December, the European Commission published its draft standardisation request related to the proposed EU AI Act. The request asks the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN) and the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardisation (CENELEC) to develop standards in support of the regulatory requirements set out in the AI Act, with the aim for these standards to be adopted as harmonised standards. To mark this important moment in the field of AI standardisation, we hosted a webinar focused on the work of the CEN-CENELEC Joint Technical Committee for Artificial Intelligence (Joint Technical Committee 21), the committee charged with addressing the standardisation request.  

The webinar provided an opportunity to hear directly from the committee chair of CEN-CENELEC JTC 21, Dr Sebastian Hallensleben, as he provided an overview of the committee’s standards development agenda and discussed how it relates to the EU’s AI Act and the evolving international AI governance landscape more broadly. The session provided a unique opportunity to learn about JTC 21’s work and its implications for the implementation of the EU AI Act at a crucial point in time. The event also included an extensive Q&A and discussion segment during which Dr Hallensleben answered questions from the audience.  

The event was designed to be of interest to a wide audience. Pursuant to the EU’s regulatory approach, companies that adhere to harmonised standards enjoy a legal presumption of conformity with the regulatory requirements to which the standards relate. As a result, the standards developed by CEN-CENELEC JTC 21 are set to play an influential role as AI governance tools within the EU and beyond. They will be relevant to any AI developers seeking to do business in the EU, but will also play an important role in discussions on best practices and regulatory interoperability for AI at the wider international level.

The full recording of the webinar is available here: