Share This Article
The recent developments on the EU AI Act set high expectations that a political agreement on its contents will be reached soon.ย
On October 17th, 2023, the Spanish presidency of the EU Council of Ministers shared a significant document in preparation for the upcoming political negotiations with the European Parliament and Commission on October 24th – known as trilogues.
The key focus areas include how to address foundation modelsโlarge machine-learning models trained on extensive datasets that generate responses based on specific stimuli. Below is a snippet of the issues currently discussed
๐ค ๐
๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐๐จ๐๐๐ฅ๐ฌ & ๐๐๐ง๐๐ซ๐๐ฅ-๐๐ฎ๐ซ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฌ๐ ๐๐:
One critical aspect under discussion is the regulation of AI models without specific purposes. The Spanish presidency introduces a potential definition of foundation models as AI models capable of competently performing a wide range of distinctive tasks.
๐ ๐๐๐ซ๐ฒ ๐๐๐ฉ๐๐๐ฅ๐ ๐
๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐๐จ๐๐๐ฅ๐ฌ:
A new category, ‘very capable foundation models,’ is emerging. These models, with advanced capabilities, may require additional obligations due to their cutting-edge nature.
๐ ๐๐จ๐ฉ๐ฒ๐ซ๐ข๐ ๐ก๐ญ & ๐๐๐ญ๐๐๐ญ๐๐๐ข๐ฅ๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ:
The presidency emphasizes the need for foundation model providers to demonstrate compliance with EU copyright law, including allowing rightsholders to opt out. For generative AI models, Spain wants providers to ensure their output is detectable as artificially generated.
๐ ๐๐จ๐ฏ๐๐ซ๐ง๐๐ง๐๐:
EU member states initially left AI law enforcement largely in the hands of national authorities. However, recognizing the complexity of AI models and systems, especially foundation models, the presidency has accepted the idea of an AI Office, tasked with overseeing rules on foundation models and large-scale general-purpose AI systems, defining auditing procedures and carrying out compliance controls and investigations.
๐ ๐๐ข๐จ๐ฆ๐๐ญ๐ซ๐ข๐ ๐๐๐๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐๐ข๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง:
A significant contention arises regarding the use of real-time biometric identification systems by law enforcement. Negotiations continue to narrow exceptions, with an emphasis on safeguards and judicial authorization for system usage.
๐ซ ๐๐๐ง๐ง๐๐ ๐๐ซ๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐๐๐ฌ:
The EU Parliament’s mandate includes bans on emotion recognition, biometric categorization of protected data, and predictive policing in various contexts.
Given the recent developments, a political agreement on the AI Act will be reached by the end of the year, and this is the intent of the Spanish presidency of the EU. ย The European Union wants to take a leading role on artificial intelligence and the adoption of clear set of rules is a pivotal milestone.
On the same topic, you can read the article โWhat cybersecurity obligations under the EU AI Actโ.
