European Union's AI Act Adopted, Full Implementation to Follow by 2026

[AleksandarK]

The European Union has recently approved the AI Act, a new type of regulation to ensure the safe and responsible development of artificial intelligence (AI) within the EU. This legislation marks the first case in the global efforts to regulate AI, as it sets a new standard for transparency, accountability, and ethical considerations in AI development and deployment. The AI Act, also known as the KI-Gesetz, is designed to address concerns about the potential risks and negative impacts of AI on society. Key aspects of the regulation include the requirement for AI systems to be transparent and explainable, ensuring that they are not discriminatory and environmentally friendly. Furthermore, the AI Act emphasizes the importance of human oversight in AI development and deployment, ensuring that other technologies do not solely control AI systems.

The regulation also includes specific restrictions on certain AI applications, such as mass surveillance using biometric data or the evaluation of social behavior, similar to China's Social Scoring system. Additionally, emotion recognition, both in the workplace and educational settings, is prohibited under the new law. While the AI Act has been widely praised for its forward-thinking approach, there are also concerns about the potential limitations and challenges it may pose. The Digital Industry Association, Bitkom, has criticized the law for leaving certain questions unanswered and warning that the regulations may become outdated within two years. The AI Act is set to come into effect in the coming weeks, with full implementation expected by 2026. The regulation will apply to all entities developing, offering, or using AI systems within the EU, including both public and private parties. This comprehensive approach aims to ensure that AI is developed and used in a way that benefits society while minimizing potential risks.



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[FoulOnWhite]

Does it include Asimovs 3 rules?

 

[Onasi]

Does it include Asimovs 3 rules?

Unnecessary, really, since the “AI” we are talking about is actually AI in name only.

 

[64K]

As usual the EU is the sanity of the Western World. Looking out for the people instead of looking out for big business interests. Well done. I wish we had that here in America.

 

[azrael]

I wonder how this will affect Microsoft's new Recall feature in Windows 11. Essentially an AI that spies on everything you do. Granted, allegedly you can disable the feature, but when it comes to Big Tech I always assume the worst.

 

[overclockedamd]

With the US and China in an arms race for AI supercomputers sucking up all the inventory I don't see the need for this. They were not gonna build there in the first place due to power costs now they have more reason not to build AI supercomputers there.

 

[DudeBeFishing]

Not discriminatory and environmentally friendly?

 

[Chomiq]

environmentally friendly?

It's all in the cloud so it must be environmentally healthy.

/s

 

[bonehead123]

A good idea, but good luck enforcing it or making it work in a practical sense, since the rest of the world will do whatever they want with their AI's, which in most cases will be N*U*T*H*I*N, until it's too late and the machines take over everything, rewrite hoomAn history so that none of the regs/policies/laws never existed, which allowed them to take over in the 1st place, which allowed them to yada yada yada...well you know the rest

 

[bug]

As usual the EU is the sanity of the Western World. Looking out for the people instead of looking out for big business interests. Well done. I wish we had that here in America.

You really don't want that.

I'm not sure if EU gets the ridiculousness of trying to regulate domain where we aren't leading by any measure. Create the prerequisites to be at the front, lead in some way and then you can think of regulating.
And I don't mean users shouldn't be protected. But the way EU does things, the net result is everything noteworthy happens elsewhere and we just consume (i.e. generate revenue for non-UE entities) that.

 

[kapone32]

It's all in the cloud so it must be environmentally healthy.

/s

I guess you have to do something with the servers from Marvel Heroes.

 

[Vayra86]

A good idea, but good luck enforcing it or making it work in a practical sense, since the rest of the world will do whatever they want with their AI's, which in most cases will be N*U*T*H*I*N, until it's too late and the machines take over everything, rewrite hoomAn history so that none of the regs/policies/laws never existed, which allowed them to take over in the 1st place, which allowed them to yada yada yada...well you know the rest

Oh? How's GDPR proliferating these days?

Seems like it's working quite nicely
No compliance? Good, GTFO!
And what's more, people are actually starting to see its value too.

You really don't want that.

I'm not sure if EU gets the ridiculousness of trying to regulate domain where we aren't leading by any measure. Create the prerequisites to be at the front, lead in some way and then you can think of regulating.
And I don't mean users shouldn't be protected. But the way EU does things, the net result is everything noteworthy happens elsewhere and we just consume (i.e. generate revenue for non-UE entities) that.

Not sure, I think the EU is way ahead of the inevitable reality check that will happen and suddenly it all makes sense to everyone. Its guidance by principle, which I personally think is the only way to write law and policy. You're writing it to protect those principles.

Something AI is going to fail spectacularly and make casualties, sooner or later. Or, its just not going to go places altogether and we don't really need the regulation.

Again, look at GDPR. The EU has no social media of its own, it hits all companies and we're not leading in tech, but companies must get in line or they lose access to a rough third of the world's economical power. They ain't leaving.

 

[bug]

Again, look at GDPR. The EU has no social media of its own, it hits all companies and we're not leading in tech, but companies must get in line or they lose access to a rough third of the world's economical power. They ain't leaving.

They ain't leaving, but no major social media, search engine and such is based in the EU either. We just pay for the service (cash or otherwise), but the money goes elsewhere.

 

[Vayra86]

They ain't leaving, but no major social media, search engine and such is based in the EU either. We just pay for the service (cash or otherwise), but the money goes elsewhere.

Sure but they weren't bringing that money here before GDPR either.

Isn't that a separate issue? We've been neglecting a lot of things in that space.

 

[bug]

Sure but they weren't bringing that money here before GDPR either.

Isn't that a separate issue? We've been neglecting a lot of things in that space.

It's the issue I was talking about: because of regulation, anything noteworthy happens elsewhere. Nobody sets up camp to develop new tech in the EU.

 

[Vayra86]

It's the issue I was talking about: because of regulation, anything noteworthy happens elsewhere. Nobody sets up camp to develop new tech in the EU.

I see, so in the unregulated US, the chip industry is happy to invest?

The reason isn't regulation. We ourselves outsourced things.

Anything noteworthy happens elsewhere... such as this?

ASML | The world's supplier to the semiconductor industry

ASML is the leading supplier to the semiconductor industry, driving lithography system innovation to make chips smaller, faster and greener.

www.asml.com

Or this?

NXP® Semiconductors Official Site

NXP is a global semiconductor company creating solutions that enable secure connections for a smarter world.

www.nxp.com

The future is Quantum

The Second Quantum Revolution is unfolding now, exploiting the enormous advancements in our ability to detect and manipulate single quantum objects. The Quantum Flagship is driving this revolution in Europe.

qt.eu

Or this?

Hydrogen in steel production: what is happening in Europe – part one - Bellona.org

The steel industry accounts for 4% of all the CO2 emissions in Europe and 22% of the industrial carbon emissions in Europe. Several options for its decarbonization are possible: increasing the efficiency of current production methods, recycling of steel, carbon capture and storage (CCS) and...

bellona.org

Unless... of course, we consider 'noteworthy' the Big Tech clusterfuck of social media and information control/overload, over the above.
You know what, let those things happen outside the EU. We'll focus on stuff that matters

 

[Tahagomizer]

It's the issue I was talking about: because of regulation, anything noteworthy happens elsewhere. Nobody sets up camp to develop new tech in the EU.

This is a noteworthy fallacy which seems to come from corporate narrative of painting income at any cost as the only indicator of success. Importantly: Income for the few, not improving conditions for the majority.
To be fair, Europe is in the process of hitting a wall with considerable speed when it comes to social policies - in no small part thanks to intellectually weak people being in charge of immigration - but in the technology realm, "quality over quantity" seems to be the chosen trajectory. Doing better things in a better way might in the end win with churning chinesium rubbish and a race to the bottom with price and quality, which seems to be exactly what the USA is doing.

 

[bug]

This is a noteworthy fallacy which seems to come from corporate narrative of painting income at any cost as the only indicator of success. Importantly: Income for the few, not improving conditions for the majority.

Where's the fallacy?
One of the biggest sources of revenue these days is services: you can build them once and sell them ad nauseam at very little cost per "SKU". No mainstream social media platform is based in the EU. AI? Anywhere but EU. Cloud providers? Same answer.
And if you want to talk physical goods, pretty much everyone banned that (because green and costs) and moved production to China or India.

You can rationalize that all you want, but at the end of the day, it means people willing to work on bleeding edge stuff just moves elsewhere and we hurt in the long run.

 

[Prima.Vera]

This Law is like the Japan's Law on children abduction by the Japanese parent on an International marriage. The law is there, signed by Japan and Hague, but neither Japan or Hague enforce it in any way.
So it's just there for the sake of it, not that somebody would take it seriously.

 

[bug]

This Law is like the Japan's Law on children abduction by the Japanese parent on an International marriage. The law is there, signed by Japan and Hague, but neither Japan or Hague enforce it in any way.
So it's just there for the sake of it, not that somebody would take it seriously.

Not so. Seeing EU lagging in AI, expect some billion $$$ fine going AI operators' way in a few years.
Too much money going out of the EU for Windows licenses? Fine Microsoft and get some of that back. Too much money headed towards Intel? Same thing. I expect this will be no different.

And don't get me wrong, I know full well AI needs to be at least properly supervised. I just don't see the EU making a good job of it.