Brazil: Passed Bill No. 2338 of 2023 regulating the use of Artificial Intelligence including algorithm design and technical standards

On 10 December 2024, the Brazilian Senate passed Bill No. 2338 of 2023, which regulates the use of artificial intelligence, including the design of algorithms and technical standards. The Bill would require providers of artificial intelligence systems to conduct a risk assessment to determine the level of risk the system may pose before it is placed on the market. Suppliers would be required to include the purpose of the AI system and the intended applications in the preliminary assessment. The Bill distinguishes between "excessive risk" and "high risk" AI systems. "Excessive risk" AI systems include systems that use subliminal techniques to target or influence behaviour of individuals that is harmful or dangerous to their health or safety, exploit the vulnerability of groups of individuals, and systems that could be used by governments to evaluate, classify or rank individuals and assign a social score. The Bill provides that a new authority, to be appointed by the Executive, will regulate the "high risk" AI systems. The "high-risk" AI systems include systems used in critical infrastructure, vocational education and training, recruitment, employment decisions, evaluation of criteria for access to public goods, priority ranking of emergency services, administration of justice, autonomous vehicles, and biometric identification systems. The "high risk" AI systems would have to meet quality of service requirements and design their systems to allow for human oversight. The new exemptions include performing limited tasks, assisting human activities, detecting decision-making patterns or preparing assessments.