EU Strikes Historic Deal: In a significant leap toward global AI governance, the European Union (EU) has reached a provisional agreement on landmark rules governing artificial intelligence. The deal, achieved after nearly 15 hours of negotiations and a marathon 24-hour debate, positions Europe as a pioneer in enacting laws that regulate AI, making it the first major world power to do so. European Commissioner Thierry Breton emphasized the historical significance, stating, “Europe has positioned itself as a global standard-setter. This is, indeed, a historic day.”
The accord imposes transparency obligations on foundation models like ChatGPT and general-purpose AI systems (GPAI) before their market introduction. This includes drafting technical documentation, adhering to EU copyright law, and providing detailed summaries of training content. High-impact foundation models with systemic risk must undergo evaluations, assess and mitigate risks, conduct adversarial testing, report incidents to the European Commission, ensure cybersecurity, and disclose energy efficiency details.
GPAIs with systemic risk may adhere to codes of practice for compliance. Regarding government use, real-time biometric surveillance in public spaces is restricted to specific cases, such as victims of certain crimes, prevention of genuine threats, and searches for individuals suspected of serious crimes. The agreement prohibits cognitive behavioral manipulation, untargeted scrapping of facial images, social scoring, and biometric categorization systems inferring personal beliefs.
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Consumers gain the right to launch complaints with fines for violations ranging from 7.5 million euros ($8.1 million) or 1.5% of turnover to 35 million euros or 7% of global turnover. While hailed as a milestone by some, business group DigitalEurope criticizes the rules, calling them an additional burden. Privacy rights group European Digital Rights expresses concerns about live public facial recognition being legalized across the EU.
Expected to take effect early next year, the legislation could influence other governments, offering an alternative to the U.S.’ light-touch approach and China’s interim rules. As companies like OpenAI and Google’s Alphabet continue pushing AI boundaries, the EU’s ambitious regulations set the stage for a new era in global AI governance.
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This document provides a chronological overview of various treaties and their official journals. Included are the Treaty on European Union from 1992, published in OJ C 191 on July 29th of that year, the Single European Act from 1986, published in OJ L 169 on June 29th, 1987, and the Treaty of Accession of Spain and Portugal from 1985. Also listed is the Treaty of Greenland from 1984, published in OJ L 29 on February 1st of that year. In total, there are 48 additional treaties listed in this document.
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