The European Union and the United States plan to release a voluntary code of conduct on artificial intelligence (AI) soon. The move aims to develop common standards among democracies as China makes rapid gains in AI technology. Both political and technology industry leaders are warning about the growing risks that AI poses, with potentially wide-ranging effects on privacy and other civil liberties. After talks with EU officials in Sweden, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters that Western partners felt the “fierce urgency” to act and would ask “like-minded countries” to join the voluntary code of conduct.
A Global Priority
Technology leaders, including Sam Altman, whose company OpenAI created the popular ChatGPT bot, have warned that AI could put the world at risk without regulation. In a joint statement, they wrote: “Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war.” The EU has been moving forward on the world’s first regulations on AI, which would ban biometric surveillance and ensure human control of the technologies, though the rules would not enter into force before 2025 at the earliest.
Cooperation on AI Standards and Tools for Trustworthy AI and Risk Management
The EU and the US called AI a “transformative technology with great promise for our people, offering opportunities to increase prosperity and equity”. However, they stressed that to seize the opportunities, they must mitigate the risks. In a joint statement released by the White House and the European Commission, the two sides said that experts from both sides would work on “cooperation on AI standards and tools for trustworthy AI and risk management”. They also discussed how to work together on sixth-generation mobile technology, an area in which Europeans have taken an early lead.
The EU has voiced hope “to do that in the broadest possible circle — with our friends in Canada, in the UK, in Japan, in India, bringing as many onboard as possible”. The US has made no serious effort to rein in AI despite rising calls for regulation, including by some in the tech industry. The Computer and Communications Industry Association, which represents major technology firms, welcomed the “heightened, pointed transatlantic engagement” on AI at the meeting in Sweden. However, it reiterated its opposition to any EU fees or actions against foreign tech companies.
The EU and the US aim to set a global standard for AI regulation to mitigate the risks that AI poses. The EU has been working on the world’s first regulations on AI, while the US has made no serious effort to regulate AI despite rising calls for it. Technology industry leaders are warning that AI could put the world at risk without regulation. The EU and the US will work together on cooperation on AI standards and tools for trustworthy AI and risk management. The Computer and Communications Industry Association welcomed the transatlantic engagement on AI but opposed any EU fees or actions against foreign tech companies.
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