Europe Takes the Lead in Regulating AI: A Global Push

The European Union is set to pass groundbreaking legislation on Wednesday to regulate artificial intelligence (AI). The law aims to curb AI’s potential harms while promoting its benefits. The new European Artificial Intelligence Act creates a classification system for AI products and services based on a risk level ranging from minimal to unacceptable. The riskier applications, such as hiring or tech affecting children, will face stricter transparency and data accuracy requirements. Companies that violate the rules will have to pay fines of up to $33 million or 6% of their annual global revenue. The EU’s law also prohibits certain AI uses that threaten people’s rights, such as social scoring systems and vulnerable people’s exploitation, including children. The law would ban predictive policing technology amid other legislations. Although the EU isn’t a leading developer of cutting-edge AI, the Union believes its regulation role often leads to the trend setting with regulations that tend to become de facto global standards. Additionally, the sheer size of the EU’s single market with 450 million consumers makes it easier for companies to comply than develop different products for different regions, experts claim.