Germany, France and Italy reach agreement on future AI regulation

Three EU govts reach agreement on AI regulation: binding voluntary commitments for large & small providers, no sanctions initially, European authority to monitor compliance.

An agreement on how artificial intelligence should be regulated in the future has been reached by Germany, France and Italy, according to a joint paper seen by Reuters, which is expected to accelerate negotiations at the European level.

The three governments are in favour of binding voluntary commitments for both large and small AI providers in the European Union.

The European Commission, the European Parliament and the EU Council are currently negotiating how the bloc should position itself in this new field.

The Parliament presented an "AI Act" in June, with the aim of averting safety risks from AI applications and avoiding discriminatory effects, but without slowing down the innovative power of this new technology in Europe.

During the discussions, the European Parliament proposed that the code of conduct should initially only be binding for major AI providers, which are primarily from the U.S.

However, the three EU governments have warned against this apparent competitive advantage for smaller European providers. This could lead to less trust in the security of these smaller providers and therefore fewer customers, they said.

The rules of conduct and transparency should therefore be binding for everyone, they added.