Artificial intelligence regulation gets off the ground in Europe. What can we expect?

[AI]’s rapid advancement has brought new urgency to efforts around the world to regulate AI systems. The European Union got started first, and [on June 14] took a step forward when one of its institutions, the European Parliament, voted to advance the draft legislation known as the AI Act. But China’s rule-makers have been moving the quickest to turn proposals into real rules, and countries including Brazil, Canada, and the United States are following behind.

The course of events in Europe could certainly help governments around the world learn by example. In April 2021 the E.U.’s European Commission proposed the AI Act, which uses a tiered structure based on risks. AI applications that pose an “unacceptable risk” would be banned; high-risk applications in such fields as finance, the justice system, and medicine would be subject to strict oversight. Limited-risk applications such as the use of chatbots would require disclosures.

On Wednesday, 14 June, as noted above, the European Parliament passed its draft of this law—an important step, but only a step, in the process. Parliament and another E.U. institution, the Council of the European Union, have been proposing amendments to the Act since its 2021 inception.

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