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Key Takeaways
- The European Union (EU) approved legislation regulating artificial intelligence (AI) on Wednesday.
- Parliament approved the Artificial Intelligence Act, which the governing body said “ensures safety and compliance with fundamental rights, while boosting innovation.”
- EU politicians called it “the world’s first binding law on artificial intelligence.”
- The regulation is expected to be adopted before the end of the legislature and then must be formally endorsed by the Council.
- The U.S. government has also introduced AI guidelines, with President Joe Biden issuing an executive order in October meant to minimize risks.
- Regulators are working to regulate AI amid concerns that AI-fueled misinformation could be particularly harmful ahead of elections.
The European Union (EU) approved legislation regulating artificial intelligence (AI) on Wednesday as lawmakers across the globe work to keep up with the emerging tech ahead of elections.
Parliament approved the Artificial Intelligence Act, which the governing body said “ensures safety and compliance with fundamental rights, while boosting innovation” by putting safeguards in place for AI and limiting the use of biometric identification, among other things.
The legislation bans “certain AI applications that threaten citizens’ rights” such as biometric categorization systems that are “based on sensitive characteristics and untargeted scraping of facial images from the internet or CCTV footage to create facial recognition databases” with exceptions for law enforcement in “narrowly defined situations.”
The new rules also outline additional obligations for “high-risk AI systems” determined by “their significant potential harm to health, safety, fundamental rights, environment, democracy and the rule of law.”
The regulation requires “general-purpose AI” to “meet certain transparency requirements, including compliance with EU copyright law and publishing detailed summaries of the content used for training.” AI models that pose a more severe risk must meet higher standards. The law noted that manipulated media must be marked.
“We finally have the world’s first binding law on artificial intelligence, to reduce risks, create opportunities, combat discrimination, and bring transparency,” said Internal Market Committee co-Rapporteur Brando Benifei of Italy.
The regulation is expected to be adopted before the end of the legislature and then must be formally endorsed by the Council.
The Artificial Intelligence Act comes as the EU is working to break up big tech’s dominance through regulation to promote competition. The EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) requires companies named as gatekeepers to make changes to comply with the new rules.
The EU has also opened an investigation into Microsoft’s (MSFT) AI partnerships to determine if the company’s relationships with ChatGPT maker OpenAI and Mistral AI should be considered mergers.
In October, U.S. President Joe Biden issued an executive order establishing AI guidelines meant to mitigate risks as policymakers around the globe work to regulate AI amid concerns that AI-fueled misinformation and disinformation could be particularly harmful ahead of elections.