Artificial intelligence is everywhere: The rise of "thinking" machines has been one of the defining developments of the past two decades, and it will only increase as computing power increases.
The European Union has been working on a framework to regulate AI for some time, since March 2018, as part of its broader regulation of the digital decade.
Work on AI regulation has been relatively slow as the EU focuses on the Digital Markets Act and the Digital Services Act, which aim to tame US tech giants, but work is definitely continuing. .
Any legislative process worth its salt must be open to criticism and analysis, and EU AI law is widely covered by the UK-based Ada Lovelace Institute, an independent research institution working on policy. of data.
The full report (via TechCrunch) includes extensive detail on the pros and cons of the regulations, which is a world first, and the main takeaway is that the EU is gearing up to have some pretty powerful tools.
The EU plans to create and empower oversight bodies that can, in theory, order the removal of an AI system deemed high-risk, before requiring the model to be recycled.
The AI bill has come under intense scrutiny, and much criticism, and is likely to fall short of the EU's broader goals of creating the conditions for "trustworthy" and "human-centric" AI.
the next battlefield
The Ada Lovelace Institute report is first and foremost a criticism of the AI law, mainly because the proposal is still in draft form when changes can be made.
But that doesn't mean the AI law is a failure. “In summary, the AI Law itself is an excellent starting point for a holistic approach to AI regulation,” the report says. "However, there is no reason for the rest of the world to unquestioningly follow an ambitious but flawed regime, sustained by the double bind of the new legislative framework... and the legislative basis of EU law."
As computing power increases, AI will become an even more integral part of people's lives around the world than it is today.
Much of the algorithms and code that drive AI are black boxes with little or no oversight resources, even when things go wrong. In the United States, for example, AI regulatory efforts that automatically cut benefits or send police into black and Hispanic neighborhoods have been impossible to regulate.
As the most powerful techno-sceptical government body in the world, it makes sense for the EU to lead the charge when it comes to AI regulation, and a thorough critique will only improve the bottom line.