Europe took a step closer to enacting regulations on Friday when member states approved a political agreement struck in December, allowing for the use of AI and AI models like Microsoft’s ChatGPT.
The regulations, which were put up by the European Commission three years ago, seek to establish a worldwide standard for a technology that is utilized in a wide range of sectors, including banking, retail, the automotive, and aviation industries.
They also provide guidelines for the military, law enforcement, and security applications of AI.
The Artificial Intelligence (AI) Act, according to EU Industry Chief Thierry Breton, is a first for the globe and a historical step.
“Today member states endorsed the political agreement reached in December, recognising the perfect balance found by the negotiators between innovation and safety,” he said in a press release.
Experts are particularly concerned about the rise in deepfakes—realistic but artificial films produced by AI algorithms trained on vast amounts of internet footage—that appear on social media and cause fact and fiction in public life to become muddled as a result of generative AI.
The proliferation of phony, sexually suggestive pictures of pop artist Taylor Swift on social media in recent days, according to EU Digital Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, highlights the necessity for the new regulations.
“What happened to @taylorswift13 tells it all: the #harm that #AI can trigger if badly used, the responsibility of #platforms, & why it is so important to enforce #tech regulation,” she wrote on X platform.
The remaining holdout, France, abandoned its objection to the AI Act after negotiating stringent requirements that strike a balance between transparency and business secrets and lessen the administrative burden on high-risk AI systems, making Friday’s agreement inevitable.
The goal, as stated by an EU diplomatic official to Reuters earlier on Friday, is to enable the development of competitive AI models within the bloc. The official asked not to be identified since they were not permitted to make public comments on the matter.
French AI startup According to reports, Germany’s Aleph Alpha and Mistral, which was created by former Meta and Google AI researchers, have been influencing their respective governments on the matter.
Germany supported the guidelines earlier this week as well.
The tech lobbying group CCIA, which is made up of Alphabet companies Apple, Amazon, Google, and Meta Platforms, issued a warning about impending obstacles.
According to Boniface de Champris, senior policy manager at CCIA Europe, “many of the new AI rules remain unclear and could slow down the development and roll-out of innovative AI applications in Europe.”
“The Act’s proper implementation will therefore be crucial to ensuring that AI rules do not overburden companies in their quest to innovate and compete in a thriving, highly dynamic market.”
A vote by a significant committee of EU parliamentarians on February 13 and a vote by the European Parliament in either March or April are the next steps needed for the AI Act to become law. Some of the legislation will take effect early, but it should apply in 2026 and most certainly take effect before summer.
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