EU countries give green light to AI law: To be regulated on a 'risk-based' approach

The Council of the EU announced that the "Artificial Intelligence Act," which will introduce the world's first comprehensive rules for artificial intelligence, has been adopted by member states.

According to the law, AI rules will be harmonized across EU countries. AI systems used within the bloc will be required to be safe and respect fundamental rights.

AI systems will be regulated in a "risk-based" manner according to their potential to cause harm to society. As the risk increases, the rules will become stricter.

Certain uses of artificial intelligence will be classified as having an unacceptable risk, and the use of these systems will be prohibited.

ACCESS TO SENSITIVE DATA PROHIBITED

Biometric classification to extract sensitive data such as facial images taken from the internet or closed-circuit camera footage, emotion recognition in workplaces and educational institutions, social scoring, sexual orientation, or religious beliefs will fall under the scope of the ban.

Artificial intelligence that manipulates human behavior or exploits people's vulnerabilities will be prohibited.

Special rules will be introduced for large systems capable of performing a wide variety of different tasks, such as generating video, text, images, speaking in other languages, calculating, or writing computer code.

'FINANCIAL PENALTY' WARNING

The aforementioned "general-purpose AI" systems will be required to comply with various transparency criteria before being released to the market. In case of non-compliance with the rules, fines proportional to the relevant company's global turnover may be imposed.

The law will enter into force 2 years after its publication in the Official Journal of the EU.

With the new law, various AI technologies such as Google's AI model Gemini and ChatGPT will be required to comply with the new regulations.