The EU’s AI Act is the first-ever comprehensive legal framework on Artificial Intelligence worldwide. This is a historic moment.
European Union officials have reached a provisional deal on the world’s first comprehensive laws to regulate the use of artificial intelligence (AI). The agreement, reached after 36 hours of talks, includes rules on AI systems such as ChatGPT and facial recognition.
The proposed AI Act will be voted on by the European Parliament early next year, with the legislation expected to take effect no earlier than 2025.
The regulations include safeguards for AI use within the EU, restrictions on adoption by law enforcement, and the right for consumers to file complaints, with fines for violations.
EU Commissioner Thierry Breton called the plans “historic,” emphasizing that they set clear rules for AI use and provide a platform for EU startups and researchers to lead in the global AI race. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen highlighted the AI Act as a unique legal framework ensuring the development of trustworthy AI that does not compromise people’s safety and rights.
“Our AI Act will also make a substantial contribution to the development of global guardrails for trustworthy AI. We will continue our work at international level, in the G7, the OECD, the Council of Europe, the G20 and the UN. Just recently, we supported the agreement by G7 leaders under the Hiroshima AI process on International Guiding Principles and a voluntary Code of Conduct for Advanced AI systems.”
Excerpt: Statement by President von der Leyen on the political agreement on the EU AI Act
The European Parliament defines AI as software generating outputs based on human-defined objectives, citing examples like ChatGPT and DALL-E as generative AI programs learning from vast data to produce human-like content.
