After 37 hours of negotiations, representatives of the European Commission, the European Parliament and the 27 member states agreed to implement a series of controls on generative AI tools. The aim of this agreement is to strictly regulate AI technologies within the EU to ensure that they are in line with ethical and social values.
According to Ape Computing Rate, the negotiation process was not smooth. Delegates engaged in intense discussions on issues such as developing regulations, clarifying responsibilities and ensuring compliance. Eventually, EU countries agreed to establish a unified regulatory framework for AI to regulate the behavior of businesses in the field of AI.
The new agreement will cover the application of artificial intelligence in chatbots, speech recognition, autonomous driving and other fields. These technologies are seen as potential sources of risk that can have far-reaching social impacts, such as invasion of privacy, discriminatory decision-making, and job loss.
This agreement is expected to be the most comprehensive regulation in the field of artificial intelligence in the Western world. Thierry Breton, head of the EU's internal market, said the agreement strikes a good balance between innovation and the protection of individual and business interests.
Ape Computing also noted that some industry players are concerned that the new regulations may have a negative impact on companies' R&D investment, thereby hindering innovation. Companies such as Google have said they are willing to comply with regulations, but have called for more reasonable and actionable regulations.
Breton also said negotiators agreed to allow some real-time scans of faces, subject to safeguards and exemptions. The agreement will prohibit biometric scanning of people based on sensitive characteristics such as politics, religion, sexual orientation, and ethnicity. They unanimously expressed the view that this was one of the most difficult and sensitive issues in the negotiations.
The agreement also mentions that AI companies will need to undergo rigorous compliance reviews of their own systems. Businesses that violate the rules face severe penalties, including fines and bans. Fines can be up to €35 million or 7% of global turnover, depending on the degree of non-compliance and the size of the company.
The draft legislation still needs to be formally approved by the EU Member States and the Parliament. But the agreement marks an important step towards a landmark AI regulatory policy. In the absence of any meaningful action by the U.S. Congress, the policy will set the tone for regulating this rapidly evolving new technology. The European Union aims to create the first strict regulatory regulation in the field of artificial intelligence outside of Asia.