According to the EU’s digital regulatory director, Margrethe Vestager, the European Union will draft the world’s first major artificial intelligence (AI) law this year.
The European Parliament has achieved a preliminary agreement on the text of the EU’s Artificial Intelligence Act, and the committee of parliamentarians is scheduled to vote on it on May 11. The exact provisions of the measure will next be discussed between the Parliament, EU member states, and the European Commission before it becomes law. The new legislation will attempt to strike a balance between the dangers of social harm posed by developing technology and innovation.
Vestager went on to argue that “guardrails” on new AI technologies were needed, but that they should not strangle innovation. She went on to say that risk mitigation was important because “cleaning up… after an AI misuse would be so much more expensive and damaging than the use case of AI in itself.”
The G7 advanced nations’ digital ministers also agreed to implement “risk-based” AI legislation, marking one of the first steps toward global accords on how to govern AI. “There is a need for us to demonstrate political leadership to ensure that one can use AI safely and gain all of the amazing possibilities of productivity improvement and better services,” Vestager said in an interview.
The sources for this piece include an article in Reuters.
