The European Union’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) Act officially enters into force on Thursday. This AI Act is the first legislation on artificial intelligence in the world.
The European Commission first drafted the EU AI Act in 2021. After amendments by the European Parliament and the Council, the final version of the act or Regulation 2024/1689 was published in the Official Journal (OJ) of the European Union on July 12, 2024. The AI Act harmonizes rules on artificial intelligence throughout EU member states.
The act categorizes the risks a specific use of AI poses into four levels. Uses which pose a minimal risk, such as videogames or spam filters, are permitted and not regulated by the act. The second level poses a limited risk and is associated with transparency. Here, the act governs the use of AI to inform users how they interact with this technology. High-risk systems are subject to strict criteria to access the EU market and usually include medical devices and the use of AI in transport or recruitment.
Finally, AI that poses unacceptable risks is banned in its entirety. This includes “systems considered a threat to people’s safety, livelihoods, and individual rights.” The rules will gradually be applied over two years, yet all bans on prohibited practices will be applied within the first six months.
This regulatory framework approved by the EU is founded on the values of Articles 2 and 6 of the Treaty of the European Union (TEU) such as human dignity, rule of law and respect for the human rights enshrined within the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. The EU seeks an “ethical and human-centric approach to this technology.”
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, argues the act creates “new guardrails not only to protect people and their interests but also to give business and innovators clear rules and certainty.” Accordingly, the EU AI Act also seeks to “promote investment and innovation in AI within the EU and to facilitate the development of a single market for AI application.”
The regulations proposed in the EU AI Act are expected to be applied gradually to the technologies involved in the European market. Being the first legislation of its kind, this act may also serve as a global standard for AI regulations in other jurisdictions worldwide.
