Artificial Intelligence: the new technology that has revolutionized the sector.
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The European Union Parliament on Wednesday approved the world’s first major set of basic regulatory rules to govern mediatized artificial intelligence at the forefront of technology investments.
The EU brokered the provisional political consensus in early December, which was then approved at Wednesday’s session of Parliament, with 523 votes in favour, 46 against and 49 votes not cast.
“Europe is NOW a global reference point in the field of artificial intelligence,” Thierry Breton, the European commissioner for the internal market, wrote in X.
European Parliament President Roberta Metsola described the act as pioneering, saying it would enable innovation while safeguarding fundamental rights.
“AI is already part of our daily lives. Now it will also be part of our legislation,” he wrote in a social media post.
Dragos Tudorache, a lawmaker who oversaw EU negotiations on the deal, welcomed the agreement but noted that the biggest obstacle remains implementation.
Born in 2021, the EU AI Act divides the technology into risk categories, ranging from “unacceptable” – which would see the technology banned – to high, medium and low risk.
The regulation should enter into force at the end of the legislature in May, after having passed the final checks and received the approval of the European Council.
Some EU countries have previously supported self-regulation over government-led curbs, amid concerns that stifling regulation could create obstacles to Europe’s progress to compete with Chinese and American companies in the technology sector. Detractors include Germany and France, which are home to some of Europe’s promising AI startups.
The EU is struggling to keep pace with the impact of technological developments on consumers and the market dominance of major players.
Last week, the EU brought into force historic competition legislation aimed at reining in US giants. Under the Digital Markets Act, the EU can crack down on anticompetitive practices by major tech companies and force them to open up their services in sectors where their dominance has stifled smaller players and stifled users’ freedom of choice. Six companies: US titans Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Half, Microsoft and China’s Bytedance – have been reported as the so-called “gatekeepers”.
Concerns have mounted about the potential abuse of artificial intelligence, even as big players such as Microsoft, Amazon, Google and chipmaker Nvidia have gone all-in on AI investments.
Governments fear the possibility that deepfakes – forms of artificial intelligence that generate false events, including photos and videos – will be used ahead of a series of major global elections this year.
Some AI advocates are already self-regulating to avoid misinformation. On Tuesday, Google announced that it will limit the types of election-related questions that can be asked of its Gemini chatbot, saying it has already rolled out the changes in the United States and India.
“The AI Act has pushed the development of AI in a direction where humans are in control of technology and where technology will help us harness new discoveries for economic growth, social progress and to unlock human potential “, Tudorache he said on social media on March 12.
“The AI Act is not the end of the journey, but, rather, the starting point for a new governance model built around technology. We must now focus our political energy on turning the law on the books into reality.” land,” he added.
This breaking news is currently being updated.