Under the AI Act, AI systems used in areas like law enforcement and employment would have to demonstrate that they are sufficiently transparent and accurate, meet cybersecurity standards, and meet criteria for the quality of the data used to train them.
The AI Act will have a global reach. Photo: Reuters
The EU vote comes two months after the European Parliament backed an AI law that would require systems used in “high-risk” situations to be certified by approved bodies before being placed on the EU market.
“High-risk” situations include those where the use of AI could harm health, safety, fundamental rights, the environment, democracy, elections and the rule of law.
The AI Act restricts the use of real-time biometric surveillance in public spaces, except for certain criminal cases such as preventing terrorist attacks and searching for people suspected of the most serious crimes.
Systems like social scoring would be banned outright, as would biometric classification systems based on people's religion or race, sexual orientation and other worldviews .
The law also prohibits facial recognition in surveillance cameras, except for use for law enforcement purposes such as finding missing persons or kidnapping victims, preventing human trafficking or finding suspects in serious criminal cases.
Patrick van Eecke, a legal expert at law firm Cooley, said the new law would have implications beyond the 27-nation bloc: “The law will have a global reach. Companies outside the EU that use EU customer data in their AI platforms will need to comply.”
“This landmark law is a world first, addressing a global technological challenge while creating opportunities for our societies and economies,” said Mathieu Michel, Belgium’s Minister of State for Digitalisation.
“With the AI Act, Europe underlines the importance of trust, transparency and accountability when dealing with new technologies, and ensures that this rapidly changing technology can develop and drive European innovation,” he said.
The new law will come into effect in 2026. Fines for violations range from €7.5 million or 1.5% of turnover to €35 million or 7% of global turnover depending on the type of violation.
In another sign of widespread concerns around AI, more than a dozen of the world's leading AI companies, including Microsoft, Amazon and OpenAI, made new safety commitments at the AI Safety Summit in Seoul on May 21.
“These commitments ensure the world’s leading AI companies will provide transparency and accountability in their plans for developing safe AI,” UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak stressed.
Under the agreement, companies from various countries, including the US, China, Canada, the UK, France, South Korea and the United Arab Emirates, will make voluntary commitments to ensure the safe development of the most advanced AI models.
Ngoc Anh (according to Reuters, FT)
Source: https://www.congluan.vn/lien-minh-chau-au-ky-luat-tri-tue-nhan-tao-cac-cong-ty-ai-dua-ra-cam-ket-post296442.html
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