Spain has established a new regulatory body, the Spanish Agency for the Supervision of Artificial Intelligence (AESIA), which will oversee the country's National Artificial Intelligence Strategy and ensure AI development aligns with principles of inclusivity, sustainability, and welfare. AESIA is also expected to enforce the EU's landmark AI Act, which each EU member state must establish a supervisory authority to support the implementation and application of the legislation. The establishment of AESIA comes as part of Spain's Digital Spain 2025 Agenda, a €600 million initiative aiming to shape the country's digital future.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) settled a lawsuit with iTutorGroup for $365,000 over AI-driven age discrimination, which is the first settlement against AI-powered recruitment tools in the US. The iTutorGroup used an algorithm in 2020 that automatically rejected older applicants due to their age, violating the Age Discrimination Act. The settlement prohibits the iTutorGroup from automatically rejecting tutors over 40 or anyone based on their sex and is expected to comply with all relevant non-discrimination laws. HR Tech tools are likely to face more lawsuits targeting automated employment decision tools across the US.

The Council of the European Union has released a summary of the provisional agreements, pending items, and future priorities discussed during the second trilogue on the EU AI Act. The act aims to set the global standard for AI regulation through a risk-based approach and requires certain obligations of providers, users, and deployers of high-risk AI systems. The legislative process is expected to finish by the end of 2023, and the final text is likely to be published shortly after. The EU AI Act will impact EU and non-EU companies operating AI systems within EU borders, and organizations can seek help from Holistic AI to manage their AI risks. This article is for informational purposes only and does not provide legal advice.

States in the US are introducing legislation to regulate HR Tech, with New York proposing legislation targeting automated employment decision tools (AEDTs), and California proposing multiple pieces of legislation. Federal efforts have now emerged, with Senators introducing the No Robot Bosses Act and Exploitative Workplace Surveillance and Technologies Task Force Act. The No Robot Bosses Act seeks to protect job applicants and employees from the undisclosed use of automated decision systems, requiring employers to provide notice of when and how the systems are used. The Exploitative Workplace Surveillance and Technologies Task Force Act seeks to create an interagency task force to lead a whole government study and report to Congress on workplace surveillance. The Biden-Harris administration have secured voluntary agreements from various AI companies to ensure products are safe and that public trust is built.

The European Parliament has passed the latest version of the EU AI Act, which will now proceed to the final Trilogue stage. The Act is a landmark piece of legislation proposed by the European Commission to regulate AI systems available in the EU market. It takes a risk-based approach to regulation, with systems classified as posing minimal, limited, high, or unacceptable levels of risk. The latest version aligns more closely with the OECD definition of AI and covers eight high-risk categories, including biometrics and biometric-based systems, management of critical infrastructure, and AI systems intended to be used for influencing elections. The Act also prohibits real-time remote biometric identification and places a focus on protecting EU citizens' rights and education.