• The executives from 160 companies have issued an open letter to the EU regarding their upcoming AI bill.
• The proposed legislation would heavily regulate generative AI tools, and incur liability risks and high compliance costs for developers.
• European Parliament has passed the initial EU AI Act that includes prohibitions on certain AI services and products such as biometric surveillance, social scoring systems, predictive policing, emotion recognition, and untargeted facial recognition systems.
Open Letter From Tech Execs
Executives from over 160 tech companies around the world have signed an open letter addressed to lawmakers in the European Union urging careful consideration of artificial intelligence (AI) regulations not to stunt the industry or markets. Companies such as Renault, Meta, Spanish telecom company Cellnex, and German investment bank Berenberg are among those represented in the open letter.
Proposed Legislation
The proposed legislation outlined in the EU Artificial Intelligence Act has potential risks including heavy regulation of generative AI tools that could incur both liability risks and high compliance costs for developers. In addition to warnings about potential consequences of too-strict regulations, prohibitions were placed on certain AI services and products such as biometric surveillance, social scoring systems, predictive policing, emotion recognition systems and untargeted facial recognition systems.
EU AI Act Passed by Parliament
On June 14th two weeks prior to the open letter being sent out ,the European Parliament passed the initial EU AI Act which includes legislation that would force tool like ChatGPT to disclose all AI-generated content along with other measures against illegal content . Before this bill can become law there are individual negotiations among parliament members that need to take place in order to finalize details of this act.
Tech Industry’s Response
The response from tech industry leaders has been swift with Microsoft’s president visiting Europe prior to this open letter being issued in order speak with regulators on how best they should regulate AI . Alongside Microsoft’s president Sam Altman , CEO of OpenAI also spoke with European regulators earlier this year in Brussels warning them about the possible negative effects too much regulation could have on the industry .
Voluntary Code Of Conduct
The EU’s tech chief is pushing for both blocs (EU & US)to come together create a voluntary “AI code of conduct” while legislators finalize more permanent measures . In March another open letter was issued by over 2 600 tech companies calling for governments across Europe & North America to work together towards creating ethical yet effective frameworks under which advancements within this field can continue safely .