Members of the European Commission will still have to pay attention themselves during online meetings. The Commission prohibits the use of AI agents. The reason is unclear.
“No AI agents allowed”. It is stated literally in a presentation by the European Commission on ‘digital etiquette’. The European Commission therefore does not want to know about AI agents for the time being and prohibits its employees from using them during online meetings.
Why the European Commission is making this decision is unclear. Politico asked for more explanation, but the Commission did not respond to the request. There is no legislation that prohibits or restricts the use of AI agents. AI agents are not included in the European Union’s AI Act. This is illustrative of the fact that legislation always lags behind technological development.
No Entry for AI Agents
AI agents are everywhere today. All the major technology companies are pushing their own agents. The difference with chatbots like ChatGPT is that AI agents can perform autonomous actions, whereas a chatbot only tries to do what you explicitly ask it to do. During online meetings, AI could, for example, take notes for you or provide you with an extensive summary afterwards. They can almost be seen as ‘digital colleagues’, say experts in the field.
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The European Commission doesn’t want to know about this. AI agents are not a threat in themselves, but risks can arise if you let them go about their business without any supervision. Whether this plays a role in the Commission’s decision not to allow them is unclear. Perhaps the Commission simply wants to keep its employees attentive during meetings.
AI agents were a recurring topic during a recent ITdaily roundtable with five experts from the Belgian AI industry. You can view the full series here.