European Parliament Approves AI Act of the European Union

The European Parliament has adopted the EU AI Act, a comprehensive legal framework for the regulation and supervision of artificial intelligence technologies within the European Union.

Parliament passed the measure on June 14, with 499 votes in favor, 28 against, and 93 abstentions. Before the bill can be enacted, further negotiations must take place between members of the European Parliament to iron out the finer points. The European Commission first presented the EU AI Act, a comprehensive set of regulations governing AI development in the EU, on April 21.

According to a press release from the European Parliament:

Once enacted, the act will forbid certain kinds of artificial intelligence services and products while controlling or limiting others. Technologies that are completely prohibited include biometric surveillance, social scoring systems, predictive policing, so-called “emotion recognition” and untargeted facial recognition systems. Generative AI models, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard, would be allowed to work provided that their outputs are clearly marked as AI-generated.

The Irish Data Protection Commission has prevented Google from launching its product, “Bard,” in the European Union.

Once the legislation is enacted, any AI system that could potentially cause “significant harm to people’s health, safety, fundamental rights or the environment” or “affect the voting behavior of people and the outcome of elections” will be labeled as high risk and subject to additional oversight.

Parliament’s adoption of the EU AI Act occurred just two weeks after the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) bill was legally enacted on May 31 by the supranational entity. In both instances, industry leaders were at the forefront of pushing for regulation.

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, has been a strong advocate for government regulation of the AI industry. Recently, he testified before Congress to make clear his opinion that regulation is required.

Sendi Young, the Managing Director for Europe and the United Kingdom at Ripple, recently informed Cointelegraph that she believes MiCA will create a fair environment for firms working in the crypto sector in Europe.

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