The European Union’s landmark artificial intelligence law came into force on Thursday, which Brussels vows will boost innovation while protecting citizens’ rights.
The EU earlier this year approved the world’s first sweeping rules governing artificial intelligence, particularly powerful systems like OpenAI’s ChatGPT after difficult and tense negotiations.
Although the rules were first proposed in 2021, they took on greater urgency when ChatGPT appeared on the scene in 2022, demonstrating the human-like ability of genetic artificial intelligence to reproduce eloquent text in seconds.
Other examples of genetic AI include Dall-E and Midjourney, which can generate images in almost any style with a simple input of everyday language.
“With our AI act, we are creating new guardrails not only to protect people and their interests, but also to give businesses and innovators clear rules and certainty,” said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. .
The US Senate passes the first major child online safety bills in years
Companies will have until 2026 to comply, but the rules covering AI models like ChatGPT will apply 12 months after the law comes into effect.
Strict bans on the use of artificial intelligence for predictive policing based on profiling and systems that use biometric information to infer a person’s race, religion or sexual orientation will apply six months after the law comes into effect.
The law, known as the Act, takes a risk-based approach: if a system is at high risk, a company has a stricter set of obligations to fulfill to protect citizens’ rights.
The higher the risk to the health or rights of Europeans, for example, the greater the demands on companies to protect people from harm.
“The geographical scope of the AI ​​Act is very broad, so organizations with any links to the EU in their business or customer base will need an AI governance program to identify and comply with their obligations,” said Marcus Evans, legal partner. Norton Rose Fulbright Company.
Carbon credits are ‘inefficient’, corporate climate watchdog says
Companies that violate the rules on prohibited practices or data obligations face fines of up to seven percent of global annual revenue.
The EU in May established an “AI Office” of technology experts, lawyers and economists under the new law to ensure compliance.
Source: AFP