© Reuters.
By Supantha Mukherjee and Foo Yun Chee
STOCKHOLM/BRUSSELS (Reuters) – EU lawmakers hope to agree draft artificial intelligence rules next month, with the aim of reaching an agreement with EU countries by the end of the year, said one of the lawmakers who directs the AI Act.
The European Commission proposed AI rules in 2021 in an attempt to encourage innovation and set a global standard for a technology, used in everything from self-driving cars and chatbots to automated factories, currently led by China and the United States.
“We are still in time to meet the general objective and the schedule that we initially assumed, which is to complete it during this term,” said Dragos Tudorache, MEP and co-sponsor of the EU AI Law. he told Reuters.
“It took a little longer than I initially thought,” he said. “This text has seen a level of complexity that is even higher than the typical complex machinery in Brussels.”
The proposed legislation has drawn criticism from lawmakers and consumer groups for not fully addressing the risks of AI systems, but the companies involved have warned that tougher rules could stifle innovation.
The intense debate over how AI should be governed led several experts to predict that the bill could be bottlenecked and delayed.
“There are some loose ends for all the in-laws. I told you at the last meeting that you know you can succeed in a compromise when everyone is equally unhappy,” he said. “Some people will say this is optimistic… I hope it happens.”
One area of contention is the definition of “general-purpose AI,” which some believe should be considered high-risk, while others point to the risks posed by the popular chatbot ChatGPT as an area that needs further regulatory scrutiny.
“This year alone, we’re going to see some exponential advances not just for ChatGPT but for a lot of other general-purpose machines,” he said, adding that lawmakers were trying to write down some basic principles about what makes general-purpose such. a different kind of AI.
ChatGPT can generate articles, essays, jokes, and even poetry in response to prompts. OpenAI, a private company backed by microsoft corporation (NASDAQ:), made it freely available to the public in November.
EU industry chief Thierry Breton said the proposed new AI rules will aim to address concerns about the risks surrounding ChatGPT.
However, critics of regulatory overreach said such a move could lead to higher costs and more compliance pressure for companies, which stifles innovation.
“I think that if that will be the effect of this Law, then we will be seriously missing our objective. And we haven’t done our job if that’s what’s going to happen,” Tudorache said.
