Wednesday, June 14th 2023
EU Approves Formation of Artificial Intelligence Act
The European parliament has voted today on a proposed set of rules that aim to govern artificial intelligence development in the region. The main branch has approved the text of draft of this legislation—a final tally showed participant counts of 499 in favor, and 28 against, and 93 abstentions at the Strasbourg HQ-based meeting. The so called "AI Act" could be a world first as well as a global standard for regulation over AI technology—members of the European Parliament (MEPs) are expected to work on more detailed specifics with all involved countries before new legislation is set in stone.
Thierry Breton, the European commissioner for the internal market stated today: "AI raises a lot of questions socially, ethically, economically. But now is not the time to hit any 'pause button'. On the contrary, it is about acting fast and taking responsibility." The council is aiming to gain control of several fields of AI applications including drone operation, automated medical diagnostic equipment, "high risk" large language models and deepfake production methods. Critics of AI have reasoned that uncontrolled technological advancements could enable computers to perform tasks faster than humans—thus creating the potential for large portions of the working population to become redundant.
Sources:
Guardian, EU Proposal
Thierry Breton, the European commissioner for the internal market stated today: "AI raises a lot of questions socially, ethically, economically. But now is not the time to hit any 'pause button'. On the contrary, it is about acting fast and taking responsibility." The council is aiming to gain control of several fields of AI applications including drone operation, automated medical diagnostic equipment, "high risk" large language models and deepfake production methods. Critics of AI have reasoned that uncontrolled technological advancements could enable computers to perform tasks faster than humans—thus creating the potential for large portions of the working population to become redundant.
70 Comments on EU Approves Formation of Artificial Intelligence Act
Someone has to be first.
Eventually pretty much everyone will have laws on this matter, just like regulations for baby food, cosmetics, wine bottle labels, light bulbs, noodle package weights, motor vehicle traffic, coffee filters, crypto, whatever. Politicians write laws, that's what they do.
No nation should be 'reigning in AI' (like this).
why?
Any 'legislation and regulation' is just going to hinder open development, and put every consequence we're legitimately worried about squarely in the hands of specially-dispensated (quasi-)Nationalized industries and National Militaries.
IMO, 'stuff like this' is going to facilitate the precise catastrophes the people are wanting to avoid.
Unironically:
Workplace smoking ban? At least in the USA, it started in California at the local level in restaurants, then spread over time to other businesses and areas.
I remember some restaurateurs wailing that the cigarette ban would chase away their clientele and destroy their businesses ignoring the fact that some of the strongest proponents of the legislation were restaurant and bar workers who were subjected to second-hand cigarette smoke.
Today workplace smoking bans are commonplace in most industrialized nations and no one bats an eyelash if they see a non-smoking sign in a restaurant, bar, or nightclub.
Of course, it needs to be pointed out to some people that laws can and probably will be revised over time. The EU legislation will likely be amended at a future date.
A lot of restaurants had separate smoking and non-smoking indoor sections but that didn't help the employees who are forced to work all areas and expose themselves to smoke.
Few restaurants had imposed a voluntary sitewise non-smoking policy at the time for the reasons that the restaurateurs claimed. In order for widespread adoption, compliance must be mandatory. There were some restaurants that did not happily comply; there was no social media shaming at the time (late Eighties, early Nineties) but eventually everyone got onboard.
At the time, some people stopped eating out or patronized restaurants in other locations not covered by the regulations (or those that flaunted the regulation). Some restaurants maintained special outdoor smoking areas. Eventually the legislations became more restrictive as the public clamored for additional coverage.
As it relates to this A.I. legislation, few tech companies would voluntarily submit to these proposed controls. It's the same thing.
Same with things like roadway speed limits. Would you be happy if your next door neighbor drove down your street blowing through stop signs at 120 km/h with no headlights in the middle of the night? Just because they didn't want to "opt in" to silly traffic laws? Or your airplane pilot is operating the aircraft completely drunk?
For something like A.I., some website is going to say, "Hey, no posting deep fakes, 'kay? It's against our terms." Would you like extra spam in your inbox? Children's finger paints with lead?
For A.I., you can say "I won't use it" but someone else will. How would you feel is someone took your likeness and created a video of you slapping a kid in a wheelchair and posted the fake video to some site you don't use hosted in a country outside of the EU? I'm not saying this particular law addresses this particular example but someday, there will be regulations that cover stuff like what I just imagined. Coming sooner than you think but not soon enough for some.
But I have not seen (in all of written history) a 'centralized approach' to addressing those kinds of concerns, ever 'work out' for The People.
All centralized regulation has (historically) proven to be capable of (in the foremost), is allowing favored-parties superior power and control. Be it military or industry (even, ministerial/papal).
Never forget: Any sufficiently useful/powerful tool is also implicitly useful as a weapon. (and vice versa)
A moderated and decentralized approach must be figured out, or we'll be looking at a scenario like WWI, except only a select-few combatants have Machine Guns, and someone already has the A-bomb. (and no party will have any idea how to effectively or responsibly use them)
IMO -in the same 'never before' vein, precisely how humanity addresses these threats will also have to be 'completely new'.
The 'best' starter-concept I can come up with would be an international competitive community, linked to each nations' civil regulatory bodies.
Basically, DEF CON crossed-over with the plot of Robot Jox.
Real Steel
and I failed to convey my meaning properly in my first reply to this thread.
Moderate(d)
and
Decentralized
were the key words I only later used in a reply.
(side note: this has been thus far, the most polite and enjoyable 'back and forth' on a controversial topic, that I've ever participated in. Thank you :))
They took our job!
depends what you want in life. lmao