Recital 32 AI Act acknowledges the intrusive nature of real-time RBI systems in publicly accessible spaces for law enforcement purposes to the rights and freedoms of persons concerned, to the extent that it may affect the private life of a large part of the population, evoke a feeling of constant surveillance , and indirectly dissuade the exercise of the freedom of assembly and other fundamental rights. Technical inaccuracies of AI systems intended for the remote biometric identification of natural persons can lead to biased results and entail discriminatory effects. Such possibly biased results and discriminatory effects are particularly relevant with regard to age, ethnicity, race, sex or disabilities. In addition, the immediacy of the impact and the limited opportunities for further checks or corrections in relation to the use of such systems operating in real-time carry heightened risks for the rights and freedoms of the persons concerned in the context of, or impacted by, law enforcement activities.
However, where the use of such systems is strictly necessary to achieve a substantial public interest and where the situations in which such use may occur are exhaustively listed and narrowly defined, that use outweighs the risks to fundamental rights (Recital 33 AI Act). To ensure that such systems are used in a ‘responsible and proportionate manner’, their use is subject tothe safeguards and the specific obligations and requirements in Article 5(2)-(7) AI Act.