AI and interoperability

Abstract

This chapter reconstructs how interoperability has been framed and is put into practice in the context of the European Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (AFSJ). The EU has in 2019 adopted an interoperability framework for all major centralized databases that contain information regarding law enforcement, border control, and judicial cooperation. This policy framework defines interoperability for EU internal security as the capacity to “facilitate the correct identification of persons” and “streamline access for the purposes of preventing, detecting or investigating terrorist offences or other serious criminal offenses”. As will be argued, the case of AFSJ interoperability is illustrative of the politically perceived need to overhaul today’s digital knowledge infrastructures and to render them ready for further technical advances such as AI applications. At the same time, as will be subsequently discussed, such an approach has sparked concerns regarding data protection infringements and disproportionate state surveillance and control capacities.