On Friday, EU decision-makers agreed on a new law on the regulation of artificial intelligence.
On Friday, European Union decision-makers agreed on a new broad law regulating the use of artificial intelligence. It is one of the world’s first comprehensive attempts to limit the use of rapidly developing artificial intelligence such as ChatGPT.
– Historic! With the political agreement on the AI law sealed today, the EU will become the first ‘continent’ to set clear rules for the use of artificial intelligence, said the EU’s internal market commissioner Thierry Breton message service in X.
The AI Act – the law sets a new global benchmark for other countries that seek to utilize AI technology and at the same time protect themselves from its potential threats, such as the spread of false information online and endangering national security. The law still needs to be approved, but the political consensus means that its main guidelines have been confirmed, he writes The New York Times.
– Europe has acted as a pioneer and understood that its role as a global standard setter is important, said EU Commissioner Thierry Breton, who was involved in negotiating the agreement, in his statement.
EU regulation focuses on riskier ways of using artificial intelligence by companies and governments, such as law enforcement. New transparency requirements would be imposed on the manufacturers of the largest general-purpose artificial intelligence systems, such as ChatGPT. Deepfake programs that create manipulated images should make it clear that the images are generated by artificial intelligence.
The use of facial recognition software by the police and governments would be restricted, except in some exceptional cases related to security and national security.
The agreement reached in Brussels required three days of negotiations. The final agreement was reached on Friday after 15 hours of negotiations and was preceded by sessions lasting almost two days. The final deal was not immediately announced as negotiations were expected to continue behind the scenes to finalize technical details. The issue still needs to be voted on in the parliament and the European Council, which consists of representatives of the 27 countries of the Union.
Legislation on artificial intelligence has been negotiated at the EU level since 2019. The popularity of ChatGPT, published last year, has widely highlighted the importance of regulation regarding artificial intelligence.
AP, AFP, Reuters