News

New regulation for artificial intelligence, EU Parliament approves AI Act

The European Union has taken a major step towards regulating artificial intelligence (AI). After a three-year lead time, the EU Parliament voted in favour of the AI Act by an overwhelming majority on 13 March 2024. In future, the AI Act will apply to all public and private companies that develop, offer and use AI systems in the EU. With the AI Act, the EU wants to play a pioneering role in the ethical and safe design of AI systems.
The AI Act provides for AI systems to be categorised into risk groups in future, which will introduce strict requirements for providers and developers depending on the potential risks. The core of the AI Act consists of a ban on AI applications that are categorised as an "unacceptable risk", such as biometric mass surveillance or employee monitoring in the workplace. It also defines transparency requirements for AI systems, for example deepfakes must be labelled in future. At the same time, there are numerous exceptions, such as for law enforcement authorities or scientific research.
The regulation will enter into force 20 days after publication in the Official Journal of the EU and, with some exceptions, will be fully applicable 24 months after its entry into force. The fines have a similarly high framework as the GDPR. Depending on the infringement and the size of the company, the penalty is up to 35 million euros or 7 per cent of global turnover.