social scoring
In plain wordsRating people on how they behave or what they are like, then using the score to treat them worse in unrelated parts of their lives — a practice the EU has banned for AI.
The practice of scoring people or groups over a period of time by their conduct in society or by personal traits, including traits that are merely inferred or predicted, when the score then works against them either in areas of life unconnected with where the data came from or out of proportion to what they did. 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. lists AI-based social scoring among the 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. from February 2025. The European Commission's 2021 proposal would have banned it only for public authorities; the final text covers private actors too. Assessments made for a specific lawful purpose, such as creditworthiness checks under financial law, fall outside the ban, although AI-based credit scoring of individuals is itself a 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. use.
A landlord app that blacklists tenants for their social-media posts could amount to prohibited social scoring.
Origin
Western usage drew on reporting about China's Social Credit System, set out by China's State Council in a 2014 planning outline; scholars stress that the Chinese system is fragmented and differs from the popular image of a single national score. The EU's 2019 Ethics Guidelines for Trustworthy AI named citizen scoring a critical concern, and the 2021 AI Act proposal made it a prohibited practice.
Related
- 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.
- 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.
- AI surveillanceAI surveillance, n.: Using AI to watch, identify, track or profile people on a scale no team of humans could manage, for example by scanning camera feeds or analyzing phone and online data.
- high-risk AI systemhigh-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.
- automated decision-makingautomated decision-making, n.: When a computer system, rather than a person, makes or effectively makes a decision about someone — such as approving credit, screening job applicants or flagging possible welfare fraud.
Defined in law or standards
EU AI Act (Reg. (EU) 2024/1689), Art. 5(1)(c)
Mentioned in
AI surveillanceAI surveillance, n.: Using AI to watch, identify, track or profile people on a scale no team of humans could manage, for example by scanning camera feeds or analyzing phone and online data., 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., Texas Responsible Artificial Intelligence Governance ActTexas Responsible Artificial Intelligence Governance Act, prop. n.: A Texas law, in force since 2026, that bans a short list of harmful uses of AI — such as pushing people toward self-harm or making sexual deepfakes of children — and sets rules for government use of AI.