As global debate on how to regulate AI, European lawmakers have taken the lead by creating AI rules to establish a worldwide standard for a technology that is vital to practically every sector and organisation.
One of the architects of the bloc's AI rules, member of the European Parliament (MEP) Brando Benifei, said on Wednesday that he expects the EU AI Act to serve as a 'blueprint' for governments worldwide to follow for their legislation. The draft regulations could be approved as soon as next month.

Why does it matter?

The AI Act aims to enable a reliable, responsible, and human-centred AI while safeguarding fundamental rights and democracy. The legislation introduces obligations for the providers of AI systems, such as transparency, privacy, and non-discrimination. The EU AI Act also bans the use of AI technologies for social scoring, biometric categorization, and emotion recognition, as well as intrusive and discriminatory uses of AI. The EU AI Act classifies AI systems into different risk baskets in order to determine the level of regulation needed. The AI Act will become law once the ongoing trilogue concludes, with the Council and the European Parliament agreeing on a final version of the text.

The progress comes in the middle of recent policy developments, including the UN selecting a high-level advisory body on AI, the group of seven wealthy nations (G7) agreeing on the Hiroshima guiding principles and endorsing an AI code of conduct for companies, President Biden unveiling a landmark executive order on AI, and UK Prime Minister Rish Sunak hosting the first international AI safety summit.