European Parliament Greenlights Preliminary AI Regulations, Paving the Way for World-First Legislation
Summary:
The European Parliament has endorsed preliminary regulations on Artificial Intelligence (AI), preparing for the world's first legislation on AI technology to be enacted after a vote, planned for April. The approval aims to regulate AI use across several sectors, with high-impact foundational models coming under scrutiny. EU nations gave their consent following France retracting its opposition, resulting in compromises for high-risk AI systems and stronger trade secrets protection. However, several companies have warned EU regulators against overly strict control of robust AI systems as it may hamper innovation. The European Commission plans to set up an AI Office for compliance monitoring and also to help local AI developers.
On February 13, the European Parliament's legislatures endorsed an initial agreement to regulate artificial intelligence (AI), paving the way for world-first legislation regarding this technology. A formal vote on this issue is anticipated for April. The Internal Market and Civil Liberties Committees expressed their approval with a 71-8 vote. The AI Act aims to introduce a regulatory framework for a technology used in various sectors, including banking, automobiles, electronics, aviation, security, and law enforcement. This act intends to scrutinize foundational or generative AI models, like the one created by OpenAI and backed by Microsoft, which are AI systems trained on vast data sets and can adapt to new data for a range of tasks.
EU nations also gave their approval following France's withdrawal of its opposition, which led to compromises aimed at reducing the administrative burden on high-risk AI systems and strengthening protection for trade secrets about ten days ago. Post the political agreement in December, steps were taken to translate the agreed positions into a final negotiation text for lawmakers’ approval, culminating in a "coreper" vote on February 2 involving the permanent representatives of all member states.
The European Parliament Committee on Civil Liberties hailed the endorsement as a significant step forward for AI on the X social platform. The AI Act is now headed towards becoming law with a crucial vote by a leading EU lawmaker committee soon followed by a European Parliament vote in March or April. The act should be enforced by 2026, and certain provisions may become effective sooner.
However, some businesses and tech companies, in a joint letter to EU regulators dated November 23, cautioned against unduly strict control of powerful AI systems as it could hinder innovation. The letter, signed by 33 companies presently operating in the EU, spelled out concerns that excessively hard laws on foundation models like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and General-Purpose AI (GPAI) could deter crucial innovation in the region.
As part of its ongoing endeavors, the European Commission is looking to set up an AI Office to supervise compliance for high-impact foundational models viewed as posing systemic risk. Further, it has unveiled plans to assist local AI developers, for instance, by enhancing the EU’s supercomputer network capacity for generative AI model training.
Published At
2/14/2024 12:44:44 PM
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