Artificial intelligence: a new technology sweeping the entire industry.
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The European Parliament on Wednesday approved the world’s first set of major regulatory ground rules to govern mediatized artificial intelligence at the forefront of tech investment.
EU reaches interim political consensus early Decemberwas subsequently adopted at Wednesday’s parliamentary meeting with 523 votes in favor, 46 against, and 49 abstentions.
“Europe is now the global standard-setter in artificial intelligence,” EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton wrote on X.
European Parliament President Roberta Metsola called the bill groundbreaking and said it would promote innovation while safeguarding fundamental rights.
“Artificial intelligence has become part of our daily lives. Now, it will also become part of our legislation,” she wrote in a social media post.
Dragos Tudorache, the lawmaker overseeing negotiations on the EU deal, welcomed the agreement but noted that the biggest obstacle remained implementation.
The EU Artificial Intelligence Act introduced in 2021 divides technologies into risk categories, from “unacceptable” (which would result in the technology being banned) to high, medium and low risk.
Some EU countries have previously advocated self-regulation of government-led restrictions, fearing that stifling regulations could hamper Europe’s efforts to compete with Chinese and U.S. companies in the technology sector. Critics include Germany and France, two countries home to some of Europe’s promising AI startups.
The EU has struggled to keep up with the impact of technological developments on consumers and the market dominance of major players.
Last week, the European Union implemented landmark competition legislation aimed at reining in U.S. giants. Under the Digital Markets Act, the EU can crack down on anti-competitive behavior by big tech companies and force them to open services in areas where their dominance suppresses smaller businesses and stifles users’ freedom of choice.Six Companies—American Giants letter, Amazon, apple, Yuan, Microsoft and China’s ByteDance — have been dubbed so-called “gatekeepers.”
While heavyweights such as Microsoft, Amazon, Google and chipmaker Nvidia trumpet investments in artificial intelligence, concerns are growing about the potential for misuse.
Governments are concerned about the potential for deepfakes – forms of artificial intelligence that produce fake events, including photos and videos – ahead of a series of key global elections this year.
Some AI proponents have begun to police themselves to avoid disinformation. On Tuesday, Google announced it would limit the types of election-related queries its Gemini chatbot can ask, saying it had already implemented the changes in the United States and India.
“The AI Act moves artificial intelligence toward human-controlled technology that will help us harness new discoveries to fuel economic growth, social progress, and unlock human potential,” Tudorache said. Said on social media on March 12.
“The Artificial Intelligence Bill is not the end of the journey, but the starting point of a new governance model built around technology. We must now focus our political energy on moving this from law on the books to reality on the ground,” he added.
This breaking news story is being updated.
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