As the negotiation phase of Europe’s AI Act begins, both questions and praise pour in Premium

European Union's ArtificiaI Intelligence Act, adopted June 14, takes a risk-based approach to regulating AI, from minimal to unacceptable risk. Industry stakeholders and experts have mixed reactions

On June 14, the European Parliament adopted its negotiating position on the draft EU Artificial Intelligence (AI) Act, which takes a risk-based approach to regulating AI, going from minimal, limited, and high to unacceptable risk. With this, the Act has entered into a phase of negotiations between the three branches of the European Union — the European Parliament, the European Commission and the EU Council, a process known as Trilogue negotiations — before it becomes law.

AI systems posing minimal or limited risks to health and safety or fundamental rights of people and environment will be allowed with some transparency requirements, according to the Act. AI systems posing high risk will have stricter obligations whereas ones posing unacceptable risks will be banned. Using AI for biometric surveillance, emotion recognition and predictive policing, for instance, are banned under the current draft. There’s also an obligation for generative AI systems to disclose AI generated content.

The plan is to have the AI Act ready by the end of 2023 to be put to vote before the European Parliament elections in June 2024.

The draft legislation has triggered a mixed response from industry stakeholders as well as experts, with some calling it a move to make AI trustworthy, while others see it as a roadblock to innovation.

“The EU AI Act is a bold legislation rooted in fundamental rights that provides citizen-centric protection,” Gaurav Sharma, AI adviser for the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) India, said, speaking in his personal capacity.

Berlin-based Udbhav Tiwari, Mozilla’s Head of Global Product Policy, concurred. “At Mozilla, we think the EU AI Act is something necessary to make AI more trustworthy, not just in the EU but globally. AI is too risky a technology to not have guardrails,” Mr. Tiwari said.

As has been the case with a lot of AI related developments since the launch of the generative AI tool, ChatGPT, in November 2022, the AI Act has also prompted its fair share of open letters. More than 150 executives and European companies have signed an open letter calling on the EU Commission to reconsider some aspects of the AI Act. “In our assessment, the draft legislation would jeopardise Europe’s competitiveness and technological sovereignty without effectively tackling the challenges we are and will be facing,” this letter notes.