A draft treaty to protect human rights, democracy, and the rule of law, agreed at the Council of Europe (CoE) on Thursday (14 March), leaves it up to countries to decide how to include the private sector in the development of artificial intelligence (AI). 

The exemptions for the private and defence sectors have been a key matter of contention in the negotiations on what has been called the world’s first international treaty on AI. The document claims to ensure that the technology does not hurt human rights.

In the latest iteration of the convention, countries are left to address how they will ensure the private sector will be in line with the treaty, according to three sources.

Hungarian lawyer and deputy permanent representative of Hungary’s Mission to the United Nations, Zoltán Turbék, who has previously been involved in the negotiations, and independent tech journalist Luca Bertuzzi separately confirmed how the private sector will be treated.

Another person with awareness of the draft also confirmed this to Euractiv but added that the measures for the private sector might be non-binding.

The CoE, an international human rights body with 46 member countries, confirmed on 15 March a draft of the treaty had been agreed on. However, a spokesperson declined to give any more details to Euractiv. The draft will be referred to the CoE’s Committee of Ministers and then be open for ratification by countries, the CoE said.

National security exemptions

Signatories will not be obliged to apply the treaty to applications of AI with national security implications. These will, however, still have to be subject to appropriate measures to protect international law and democratic norms, said the sources.

A previous draft of the treaty, dubbed the Convention on Artificial Intelligence, Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law, included almost wholesale exemptions for national security.

States like the US, UK, Canada, and Japan that sit at the negotiations as observers have pushed for these opt-outs, which the European Commission has resisted.

Germany, France, Spain, Czechia, Estonia, Ireland, and Hungary had previously shown support for the narrower scope, prioritising instead broad adoption.

Dozens of civil society groups and academics wrote a letter to the CoE saying that the previous draft of the treaty gives a “free ride” to tech and security companies. The European Data Protection Supervisor previously said the convention was inadequate.

The treaty aims to have a global reach, and so is open for ratification by non-CoE member states, said the CoE.

[Edited by Rajnish Singh]

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