Landmark European rules on artificial intelligence will come into effect next month after European Union countries on Tuesday ratified a political agreement reached in December that will set potential global standards for the technology used in business and everyday life.
The European Union’s AI law is more comprehensive than the United States’ lighter voluntary compliance approach, while China’s approach aims to maintain social stability and state control.
The vote by EU countries came two months after the European Commission endorsed the AI Bill drafted in 2021 with EU lawmakers, making a number of important changes.
Concerns about AI contributing to misinformation, fake news and copyrighted content have intensified globally in recent months amid the growing popularity of generative AI systems such as Microsoft (MSFT.O)-backed OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s (GOOGL.O) chatbot Gemini.
“This groundbreaking legislation is the first of its kind in the world and addresses a global technological challenge while also creating opportunities for societies and economies,” Belgian Digitalization Minister Matthieu Michel said in a statement.
He said: “With the AI Act, Europe will emphasize the importance of trust, transparency and accountability when dealing with new technologies, while ensuring that this rapidly changing technology can flourish and foster innovation in Europe. ” he said.
The AI Act imposes strict transparency obligations on high-risk AI systems, but such requirements are more relaxed for general-purpose AI models.
The law limits the government’s use of real-time biometric surveillance in public spaces to certain crimes, preventing terrorist attacks, and searching for suspects in the most serious crimes.
Patrick van Ecke of law firm Cooley said the new law would have an impact beyond the 27-nation bloc.
“This law will have a worldwide impact. Companies outside the EU that use EU customer data in their AI platforms will need to comply. Other countries and regions will also “We are likely to use the law as a blueprint,” he said, referring to EU privacy rules.
The new law will come into effect in 2026, but the ban on the use of artificial intelligence in social scoring, predictive policing and untargeted scraping of facial images from the internet and CCTV footage will be implemented within six months of the new regulation coming into force. It will begin.
The obligations for general-purpose AI models will apply after 12 months, while the rules for AI systems embedded in regulated products will apply after 36 months.
Fines for violations range from 7.5 million euros ($8.2 million) or 1.5% of global turnover to 35 million euros or 7% of global turnover, depending on the type of violation.
