On June 14th, local time, the European Parliament passed the draft AI Act with an overwhelming result of 499 votes in favor, 28 votes against and 93 abstentions. If legislation is passed, it may become the world’s first bill on artificial intelligence. However, the European media subsequently commented that it will take several years for it to fully take effect.
On June 14th, 2023, in Strasbourg, France, members of the European Parliament voted at the plenary session of the European Parliament. Vision china diagram
According to a report by DPA on the 14th, the adoption of the draft means that the European Parliament, EU member states and the European Commission will start "tripartite negotiations" to determine the final terms of the bill.
The German "Business Daily" commented on the 15th that the "Artificial Intelligence Act" is expected to be finally approved by the end of this year, but it may take several years before it comes into full effect.
The European Commission hopes to reach an agreement before the end of this year, and the new bill will probably have an impact on relevant companies in 2026. After the bill is passed, in extreme cases, companies that violate the rules may be fined as much as 30 million euros (US$ 33 million), or 6% of the company’s global annual revenue, which means that for large technology companies such as Google and Microsoft, the fines may be as high as several billion euros.
In 2021, the European Commission proposed the world’s first draft law to regulate artificial intelligence. Since then, the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union have conducted several rounds of revisions and discussions on the draft. After the emergence of generative artificial intelligence applications such as ChatGPT, EU legislators urgently discussed the issues not covered in the original draft.
According to the draft, the EU should divide artificial intelligence systems (such as ChatGPT) into different risk groups. The more dangerous the application, the stricter the applicable rules. At the same time, the EU should also formulate a comprehensive ban on artificial intelligence, such as prohibiting interactive dialogue tools that encourage dangerous behaviors and predictive policing tools that are used to predict who will commit crimes. It is worth noting that in the latest draft presented by the European Parliament in official website, the real-time remote biometric technology is adjusted from "high-risk" level to "forbidden" level, which means that companies cannot use AI technology to recognize faces in public places in EU countries in the future.
Regarding the EU’s legislation to strengthen supervision, Time magazine commented that the EU is not an important participant in the development of cutting-edge artificial intelligence, and this role is played by the United States and China. However, the EU often plays the role of guiding the tide, and its laws and regulations often become the de facto global standard, and it has become a pioneer in targeting large-scale technology companies.