The vice president of the European Commission, Margrethe Vestager, defended this Monday that the EU “cannot waste time” to regulate Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies.
In a press conference in Berlin, with the German Minister of Economy, Robert Habeck, the also European Competition Commissioner called for the “quick” approval of a text that is currently being the subject of intense debates in the European Parliament.
“It is important to act quickly. We need our legislation to adapt [às novas tecnologias]”, he stated.
“There is no time to waste,” he added, expressing the hope that the “AI Law”, a text drawn up by the European Commission, will be approved before the end of the year, pending the European Parliament’s vote on a common position on a meeting to take place on Thursday, followed by negotiations with the Commission and Member States.
The EU has been working for years on a draft regulation on AI technologies, which will be the world’s first major legislation to regulate the sector.
The objective is to allow innovation while guaranteeing the security and rights of users.
The European Commission presented the project in April 2021, but since then discussions have dragged on in the European Parliament, where advocates of strict regulation and those who propose a lighter approach to encourage the development of AI face off.
At the end of 2022, the arrival of ChatGPT (an Artificial Intelligence system that responds, via written message, to the most varied questions or requests) caused a stir in the debate, with many MEPs concerned about the fact that the text, that was written before the appearance of this tool, is deprecated.
The new legislation “could apply to AI technologies like ChatGPT,” Vestager argued.
“However, it will not be the end of the AI story, but a very, very strong start,” he admitted.
The “AI Law” focuses on uses of Artificial Intelligence, some of which will be prohibited, such as “widespread” surveillance of a population or manipulation of “citizens’ behavior, opinions or decisions.”
Others would simply be regulated, such as “remote biometric identification of people in public places” or emergency services prioritization systems, access to educational institutions, or recruitment tools.
Source: TSF
