European Union policymakers have reached a provisional deal to regulate artificial intelligence (AI), setting the pace for a historic set of rules aimed at ensuring that all AI systems used in the EU are safe and respect basic rights.
The proposed legislation, known as the “AI Act” and described as a comprehensive first, is widely seen as a global standard for governments willing to take steps to protect their public from AI risks.
Under the “Act” tech companies would be required to disclose data used to train AI systems like Open AI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard chatbot before they are put on the EU market. Also, high-impact AI foundational models such as those used in self-driving cars and in healthcare would be required to carry out model evaluations and other tests to ensure cybersecurity and energy efficiency.
The legislation also bans the indiscriminate use of face scanning and other “remote biometric identification” systems – but there’s an exemption for law enforcement using real-time facial recognition to probe serious crimes like child sexual exploitation or terrorist attacks.
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“This is a historical achievement and a huge milestone towards the future! Today’s agreement effectively addresses a global challenge in a fast-evolving technological environment on a key area for the future of our societies and economies.
“And in this endeavor, we managed to keep an extremely delicate balance: boosting innovation and uptake of artificial intelligence across Europe whilst fully respecting the fundamental rights of our citizens,” said Carme Artigas, Spanish Secretary of State for Digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence.
The agreement according to many reports, puts the EU ahead of the US, China, and the UK in the race to regulate AI.
