Questions are mounting after the European Parliament secretly disabled powerful built-in AI features on official work devices used by MEPs and staff. Citing unresolved data security risks to external clouds, this surprising move reveals the stark reality behind the EU’s ambitious AI agenda and forces a closer look at whether current technology can truly be trusted with sensitive political information now.
Behind the grand facades of the European Parliament, a quiet but significant security operation has been underway, one that cuts to the heart of the ongoing battle between innovation and institutional protection. Lawmakers and their teams have suddenly found their advanced AI writing assistants, summarizers, and intelligent analysis tools rendered inoperable on all corporate tablets and phones, a decision that suggests serious vulnerabilities lurking beneath the surface of these convenient features.
What makes this particularly intriguing is the stated rationale: these AI capabilities, despite being integrated directly into the devices, continue to transmit potentially sensitive parliamentary data to distant cloud servers controlled by private technology giants. With the full scope of data sharing still under assessment, authorities have chosen caution over convenience, leaving many to question how thoroughly these systems were vetted before widespread deployment across government infrastructure.
The irony runs deep for an institution that positions itself as the global standard-bearer for responsible artificial intelligence governance. Having spearheaded landmark regulations designed to control how AI handles personal and professional data, the Parliament now appears to be grappling with the practical limitations of the very technologies it seeks to oversee, exposing a potential gap between regulatory ambition and operational reality.
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