Commentary on the EU Artificial Intelligence Act

 

How to regulate Artificial intelligence (AI) is the thorn in the side of every government right now but key questions remain. How do we protect consumers without stifling innovation? How do we legislate against the unknown unknowns?

The UAE was the first country in the world to appoint a Minister of AI whilst the UK recently hosted the AI Safety Summit to advance the dialogue. It is the EU, however, as with GDPR, that is setting the pace on bringing in laws to govern the development and implementation of AI. And is doing so with great promise.

First, the safety and security of the public and data is paramount. Ringfencing the application of AI across sensitive areas such as healthcare and balancing higher-risk activities with higher penalties is a good step.

Transparency is key to driving the safe development of AI, so I welcome the EU’s emphasis in this area. Our ability to research and innovate is critical to furthering our understanding of cutting-edge technologies but we must do so in a clear and transparent manner. Open-source models are the best way to achieve this.

Prof. Mérouane Debbah, Senior Scientific AI Advisor, TII