By Adam Pease
Europe Moves to Regulate Generative AI
Lawmakers in Europe have convened to advance a new regulatory framework for AI in Europe, specifically focused on generative AI. This blog discusses the news and its implications for the market.
The EU’s New AI Act
Last week, the European Parliament approved the new AI Act, bringing a bill designed to regulate and implement safety checks on emerging AI closer to passing. These new rules are framed in terms of risk assessment, focusing on areas like misinformation, manipulation, surveillance, and exploitation.
If passed, the new law would, for example, ban systems that utilize biometric categorization systems based on characteristics deemed by the bloc as ‘sensitive.’
Further, the act would implement regulations on ‘foundation models’ or base models, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT. These regulations would put pressure on foundation model providers to utilize data and build applications that are in line with the EU’s interpretation of human rights, environmental safety, and democratic values.
Further, they would prohibit providers from using data that violated EU copyright law.
Regulations and the AI Market
Increasingly, many are calling for more regulatory attention to emerging AI systems. Just recently, Geoffrey Hinton, a scientist at the center of modern neural network research, departed Google citing concerns about AI safety. Aragon expects to see a wave of AI regulation in the near future, though the US is likely to take a less strict approach than the EU.
By implementing such regulations, the EU does risk limiting its share of an emerging market that is at the forefront of technology hype. Some have criticized the Act as overly broad, suggesting that its commitments to safety would end up locking harmless AI applications out of the race, because they fall into the scope of prohibited applications. Additionally, the focus on data and copyright could limit the activity of large providers in Europe, considering the outstanding data ownership questions surrounding OpenAI’s own datasets and AI training processes.
Bottom Line
The EU hopes to set a global standard with its now AI Act. Whether or not the Act does pass, it portends a future of increased regulation for the emerging generative AI market that businesses should pay close attention to.
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Transform Tour 2023: AI Everywhere—Going ChatGPT
Since the launch of OpenAI’s GPT service, organizations have been scrambling to put out their own copilot service. In our June Transform Tour, taking place on Thursday, June 15, 2023, we will discuss how Copilots work and how you can define a strategy to support digital labor.
