ABES joins sector entities in favor of the legislative federalization of Artificial Intelligence

ABES – Brazilian Association of Software Companies signs together with other entities in the sector – Abinee, Abria, Abpti, Câmara e.net, IPD Eletron, i2Ai, Lawgorithm, MBC and Zetta -, in addition to the Mixed Parliamentary Front for Artificial Intelligence and the Mixed Parliamentary Front for Science, Technology, Research and Innovation, an Open Letter in defense of the legislative federalization of Artificial Intelligence.

According to the group, it is important that guidelines are built at the federal level, allowing different regions to develop AI solutions in an isonomic and integrated way. In this way, it will be possible to encourage the promotion of innovation and investment attraction, ensuring legal security and unique rules for the entire national territory. An eventual decentralized legislation, through state or municipal laws, could have unwanted effects, creating competitive disproportions, especially for new entrants, such as small and medium-sized companies.

At Open letter, technology sector entities still emphasize the importance of AI systems, which have been increasingly indispensable for coordinating the supply and demand of goods and services, whether public or private, and for the intermediation of needs, with impacts important in the exercise of rights and access to benefits.

Brazil is a signatory of the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI), of the principles for a safe AI of the OECD and of the recommendations for the development of the ethical AI of UNESCO, with special participation in the steering committee of the GPAI. In addition, it launched the Brazilian Strategy for Artificial Intelligence – EBIA, led by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovations, in April 2021. Allied to this, the National Congress is also debating the Legal Framework of the AI and created the Mixed Parliamentary Front of IA, whose objective is to act as an observatory for future updates of the legal framework, in addition to monitoring and supporting projects that address the issue in the most diverse aspects of life, such as health, education and safety.

“Given the initial stage of the technology and its dynamic application in different sectors, we believe that the current legislative activity is right. It is important to reinforce the institutional competence that already exists for sectorial regulations applied in Brazil, especially with regard to possible uses and applications that may be made of artificial intelligence”, explains Loren Spíndola, Leader of the ABES Artificial Intelligence Committee.

For ABES, states and municipalities should consider the legislative opportunities that help boost Federal Laws that provide for the transformation of the digital economy, such as the incorporation, through their own normative acts, of the guidelines established in the recently approved Federal Law on Digital Government ( Law 14.129/2021), aimed at reducing bureaucracy, modernizing, strengthening and simplifying the relationship between public authorities and society, through digital services.

“We want to invite states and municipalities to participate in debates around the topic, following the evolution of the EBIA and the Legal Framework of the AI in the National Congress, so that specificities are addressed and unity as a country is guaranteed. In this way, we will drive innovation, development and adoption of technology in Brazil”, concludes Eduardo Paranhos, also Leader of the ABES Artificial Intelligence Committee.