EU tech tsar Vestager sees political agreement on AI law this year

The European Union is more likely to attain a political settlement this yr that can pave the way in which for the world’s first main synthetic intelligence (AI) legislation, the bloc’s tech regulation chief Margrethe Vestager mentioned on Sunday.

This follows a preliminary deal reached on Thursday by members of the European Parliament to push by way of the draft of the EU’s Artificial Intelligence Act to a vote by a committee of lawmakers on May 11. Parliament will then thrash out the invoice’s closing particulars with EU member states and the European Commission earlier than it turns into legislation.

At a press convention after a Group of Seven digital ministers’ assembly in Takasaki, Japan, Vestager mentioned the EU AI Act was “pro-innovation” because it seeks to mitigate the dangers of societal injury from rising applied sciences.

Regulators around the globe have been looking for a steadiness the place governments might develop “guardrails” on rising synthetic intelligence expertise with out stifling innovation.

“The reason why we have these guardrails for high-risk use cases is that cleaning up … after a misuse by AI would be so much more expensive and damaging than the use case of AI in itself,” Vestager mentioned.

While the EU AI Act is predicted to be handed by this yr, attorneys have mentioned it’s going to take just a few years for it to be enforced. But Vestager mentioned companies might start thinking about the implication of the brand new laws.

“There was no reason to hesitate and to wait for the legislation to be passed to accelerate the necessary discussions to provide the changes in all the systems where AI will have an enormous influence,” she mentioned within the interview. While analysis on AI has been occurring for years, the sudden recognition of generative AI functions reminiscent of OpenAI’S ChatGPT and Midjourney have led to a scramble by lawmakers to seek out methods to manage any uncontrolled progress.

An organisation backed by Elon Musk and European lawmakers concerned in drafting the EU AI Act are amongst these to have known as for world leaders to collaborate to seek out methods to cease superior AI from creating disruptions.

Digital ministers of the G7 superior nations on Sunday additionally agreed to undertake “risk-based” regulation on AI, among the many first steps that would result in international agreements on tips on how to regulate AI.

“Now when everyone has AI at their fingertips … there’s a need for us to show the political leadership to make sure that one can safely use AI and gain all the amazing possibilities of improvement in productivity and better services,” Vestager mentioned in an interview with Reuters.

Stay on high of expertise and startup news that issues. Subscribe to our every day publication for the most recent and must-read tech news, delivered straight to your inbox.