Despite opposition from France and doubts from Germany and Italy, all 27 ambassadors of EU Member States unanimously backed the text. The Act will now return to the European Parliament for a final vote. The EU has already begun setting up an AI Office to oversee compliance with the new rules and has announced measures to support homegrown AI developers. The majority of the rules won't apply until two years after the law's publication.
Key takeaways:
- The European Union’s AI Act, a plan for regulating applications of artificial intelligence, has passed a significant hurdle with Member State representatives voting to confirm the final text of the draft law.
- The regulation sets out a list of prohibited uses of AI, governance rules for high risk uses, and transparency requirements on apps like AI chatbots. Low risk applications of AI will not be in scope of the law.
- The Act will enter into force 20 days after publication in the EU’s Official Journal, with a tiered implementation period before the new rules apply to in-scope apps and AI models.
- The Commission is setting up an AI Office to oversee the compliance of more powerful foundational models deemed to pose systemic risk and has announced measures to boost the prospects of homegrown AI developers.