The European Union (EU) lawmakers have passed a draft of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Act, which would be the first set of comprehensive laws related to AI regulation. The next stage is called the trilogue, when EU lawmakers and member states will negotiate the final details of the bill. The members of the European Parliament (MEPs) confirmed previous proposals to put stricter obligations on foundation models, a subcategory of General Purpose AI that includes tools such as ChatGPT. Under the proposals, companies that make generative AI tools such as ChatGPT would have to disclose if they have used copyrighted material in their systems. The AI Act offers EU lawmakers an opportunity to put an end to the use of discriminatory and rights-violating artificial intelligence (AI) systems. The AI Act will apply to organizations providing or using AI systems in the EU; and providers or users of AI systems located in a third country (including the UK and US), if the output produced by those AI systems is used in the EU. The AI Act is attempting to put together a risk-based regime to address the highest-risk outcomes of AI while striking a balance so the laws do not clamp down on innovation. The EU AI Act will be an example of a comprehensive European law coming into effect and slowly trickling into various state- and sector-specific laws in the U.S. The AI Act will have a global impact. Generative AI models would have to be designed and developed in accordance with EU law and fundamental rights, including freedom of expression. The AI Act is larger government regulation in the form of the EU AI Act that many in the AI and the legal community have been waiting for.
