The European Union has recently approved the specifics of the AI Act, a comprehensive set of guidelines governing the creation and utilization of artificial intelligence. This landmark legislation is expected to set a global standard for AI regulation.
Over a span of 36 days, legislators from the three branches of the EU government—the Parliament, Council, and Commission—dedicated extensive time to finalizing the new regulations. This process took place between Wednesday evening and Friday night, following years of deliberation on how to effectively regulate entities like OpenAI. The urgency to reach an agreement was heightened by the impending EU election battle in the upcoming year.
Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission, described the EU AI Act as a significant milestone, stating that it represents a pioneering global initiative. This legislative framework not only promotes the advancement of AI but also prioritizes the protection of individuals’ and organizations’ fundamental rights and security.
While China implemented its own guidelines for AI earlier in August, the EU AI Act stands out as the most comprehensive and far-reaching set of regulations in the field. Among its provisions is the prohibition of indiscriminate data scraping from the internet and the use of biometric systems to identify individuals based on sensitive characteristics such as sexual orientation and cultural background. Furthermore, policymakers agreed that the use of biometric identification systems in public spaces should be subject to legal safeguards.
The AI Act also introduces new transparency requirements for fundamental models, provided they meet specific criteria. According to Dragos Tudorache, a member of the European Parliament and one of the two co-reporteurs, the legislation sets out guidelines for regulating powerful AI models to prevent them from posing systemic risks to the Union.
