biometric categorisation
In plain wordsUsing AI to sort people into groups — by age, sex, ethnicity and the like — from their faces, voices or other body features. The EU bans using it to guess sensitive traits such as religion or sexuality.
The sorting of people into groups by their biometric data. Under the EU AI ActEU AI Act, prop. n.: The European Union's law on artificial intelligence, the first broad AI law anywhere: it bans some uses, sets strict checks for risky ones and puts duties on the makers of the biggest AI models. a system that does this counts as a 'biometric categorisation system' unless the sorting is a minor feature of some other commercial service and technically unavoidable, as with an online shop's virtual try-on filter, the recitals' example. The groups may relate to anything from sex, age, hair or eye color and tattoos to personality, language, religion, ethnicity, or sexual or political orientation. Using biometrics to deduce a person's race, political opinions, trade-union membership, religious or philosophical beliefs, sex life or sexual orientation is prohibitedprohibited AI practices, n.: Uses of AI that the EU bans outright as too harmful — such as manipulating people, social scoring, and most live facial recognition by police in public places., though labeling or filtering lawfully obtained biometric datasets remains allowed, law enforcement included. Categorization by other sensitive or protected attributes is high-riskhigh-risk AI system, n.: Under EU law, an AI system used where mistakes could seriously hurt people's safety or rights — in hiring, schooling, loans, policing, borders or products like medical devices — and which must therefore pass strict checks., and deployers must inform the people exposed.
An advertising screen that estimates passers-by's age and sex is a biometric categorisation system.
Origin
Introduced as a defined term in the Commission's 2021 AI Act proposal, which treated it mainly as a transparency matter; the European Parliament's 2023 amendments pressed for a ban on sensitive-attribute categorization, a narrowed version of which entered the final text.
Usage note
Distinct from biometric identification, which establishes who someone is, and biometric verification, which confirms a claimed identity. The official English text spells it 'categorisation'; American usage is 'categorization'.
Related
- remote biometric identificationremote biometric identification, n.: Using AI to recognize people at a distance — usually by matching faces in camera footage against a database — without their taking part. The EU strictly limits live police use of it in public places.
- emotion recognition systememotion recognition system, n.: AI that tries to work out how people feel or what they intend from their faces, voices or bodies. The EU bans it at work and in schools and tightly regulates it elsewhere.
- prohibited AI practicesprohibited AI practices, n.: Uses of AI that the EU bans outright as too harmful — such as manipulating people, social scoring, and most live facial recognition by police in public places.
- facial recognitionfacial recognition, n.: Technology that identifies or checks who someone is by comparing a picture of their face with stored photos, used by phones, passport gates and police databases.
- protected attributeprotected attribute, n.: A personal trait, such as race, sex, religion, age or disability, that the law says must not be used to treat people unfairly.
- transparency obligationstransparency obligations, n.: EU rules requiring that people be told when they are dealing with AI: chatbots must say they are bots, AI-made content must be marked, and deepfakes must be labeled.
Defined in law or standards
EU AI Act (Reg. (EU) 2024/1689), Art. 3(40) and Recital 16; prohibition Art. 5(1)(g); high-risk Annex III point 1(b); transparency Art. 50(3)
Mentioned in
facial recognitionfacial recognition, n.: Technology that identifies or checks who someone is by comparing a picture of their face with stored photos, used by phones, passport gates and police databases., biometric databiometric data, n.: Information about your body or behavior — your face, fingerprints, voice, eyes or the way you walk — measured by technology and used to recognize who you are or to guess things about you., face detectionface detection, n.: Finding where the faces are in a photo or video, without working out whose faces they are: the step that lets a camera focus on people or blur them out., prohibited AI practicesprohibited AI practices, n.: Uses of AI that the EU bans outright as too harmful — such as manipulating people, social scoring, and most live facial recognition by police in public places., remote biometric identificationremote biometric identification, n.: Using AI to recognize people at a distance — usually by matching faces in camera footage against a database — without their taking part. The EU strictly limits live police use of it in public places., transparency obligationstransparency obligations, n.: EU rules requiring that people be told when they are dealing with AI: chatbots must say they are bots, AI-made content must be marked, and deepfakes must be labeled., emotion recognition systememotion recognition system, n.: AI that tries to work out how people feel or what they intend from their faces, voices or bodies. The EU bans it at work and in schools and tightly regulates it elsewhere.