The world’s governments are sensing generative AI’s potential for massive disruption and are acting accordingly. European Commission (EC) industry chief Thierry Breton said on Wednesday that it will work with Alphabet on a voluntary agreement to establish artificial intelligence rules, according to Reuters. Breton met with Google CEO Sundar Pichai in Brussels to discuss the arrangement, which would include input from companies based in Europe and other regions. The EU has a history of enforcing strict technology rules, and the alliance gives Google a chance to provide input while avoiding trouble down the road.
The compact aims to set up guidelines ahead of official legislation such as the EU’s proposed AI Act, which will take longer to develop and implement. “Sundar and I agree that we cannot afford to wait until the regulation of AI becomes available, and work together with all AI developers to create an agreement on AI on a voluntary basis before the legal deadline,” Breton said in a statement. He encouraged EU countries and lawmakers to settle the details by the end of the year.
In a similar move, EU tech chief Margrethe Vestager said on Tuesday that the federation would work with the United States to establish minimum standards for AI. He hopes that the governments and legislators of the EU “will agree on a common text” for the regulation by the end of 2023. ,” he said. Topics of concern for the EU include copyright, disinformation, transparency and governance.
OpenAI’s ChatGPT, the service most associated with AI fears, exploded in popularity after launching in November, on its way to becoming the fastest-growing application ever (although there was no official mobile app until this month). Unfortunately, its viral popularity is matched by legitimate fears about its capacity to uplift society. In addition, image generators can create AI-generated “pictures” that are more difficult to distinguish from reality, and speech cloners can imitate the voices of famous artists and public figures. Soon, video generators will improve, making deepfakes even more of a concern.
Despite its undeniable potential for creativity and productivity, generative AI could threaten the livelihoods of countless content creators while posing new security and privacy risks and increasing misinformation/ disinformation. Without regulation, corporations tend to maximize profits regardless of human costs, and generative AI is a tool that, paired with bad actors, could cause immeasurable chaos in the world. “There is a shared sense of urgency. To take advantage of this technology, guard rails are needed,” said Vestager. “Can we talk about what we can expect companies to do at least before the law kicks in?”
