European legislators on Thursday moved one step closer to approving new rules governing artificial intelligence systems such as ChatGPT.
The highly anticipated AI Act of the European Union is slated to be the first complete legislation controlling the technology, with new rules governing the use of facial recognition, biometric surveillance, and other AI applications.
The Act is now anticipated to go to the next stage of the process, in which parliamentarians agree with provisions of the law with the European Commission and individual member states, after two years of discussions.
Dragos Tudorache, one of the EU MPs responsible for crafting the rules, said ahead of the vote by two legislators’ committees: “It is a delicate deal.”It is a delicate deal. But it is a package that I think gives something to everyone that participated in these negotiations.”
MEPs agreed in a vote on Thursday morning to prohibit the use of facial recognition in public settings, predictive policing tools, and to impose new transparency rules on generative AI apps such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
According to the proposals, AI tools will be rated based on their assessed level of risk, ranging from low to unacceptable. Governments and businesses that use these tools will have varying obligations based on the level of risk.