(AmericanProsperity.com) – The European Union has officially approved their landmark artificial intelligence law, and this could mean big changes for America’s technology companies.
The new law, called the AI Act, will help to govern the way companies use, develop, and apply artificial intelligence. It was approved by the European Commission, EU member states, and lawmakers a couple of months ago.
It will mainly target United States technology giants which currently are the primary builders of most artificial intelligence programs. Experts believe that many other companies will begin developing AI as well, and they will also have to abide by these new rules.
Tanguy Van Overstraeten, head of the law firm Linklaters’ technology, media, and technology practice in Brussels said that this law was the “first of its kind.”
“It is likely to impact many businesses, especially those developing AI systems but also those deploying or merely using them in certain circumstances,” Overstraeten continued.
In this particular legislation, different areas of AI are being treated differently based on the risk factors to society. Artificial intelligence applications deemed “high-risk” will have strict obligations including risk assessment and mitigation systems, training datasets to avoid bias, logging of any activity, and sharing of detailed documentation on their AI model.
Some examples of high-risk AI systems include autonomous vehicles, medical devices, education scoring, and loan decision systems. On top of this, the law has a “blanket ban” on all applications that are deemed “unacceptable” in their risk rating. Some of these unacceptable systems could be predictive policing or emotional recognition technology in schools or work.
Technology giants like Microsoft, Apple, Google, Meta, and Amazon have been investing billions into AI systems, and these laws will be targeting these businesses.
Charlie Thompson, senior vice president of EMEA and LATAM for enterprise software firm Appian, said, “This will bring much more scrutiny on tech giants when it comes to their operations in the EU market and their use of EU citizen data.”
Some of these large companies, even before this AI Act was in place, have not allowed their artificial intelligence programs to be used in the EU due to restrictions.
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