Banned! What You Can’t Do with AI in Europe Anymore !

The European Union (EU) is set to enact the AI Act this year. This law will impose regulations on AI usage across Europe, affecting companies whose AI tools are used within the region (Scientific American).

The Act includes provisions that ban the use of emotion-recognition software in workplaces and schools. It also prohibits systems that enable racist and discriminatory profiling.

The latest draft of the Act includes an exemption for open-source AI models,acknowledging their transparency compared to “black-box” systems. However, it also recognizes that these models can still cause harm. Other changes include a modification to the definition of AI systems that fall under the regulation.

What might this mean for Pacific AI users?

The development of this legislation in Europe may impact the Pacific access or cost for AI, the same way the EU’s ban on Lightning Port cables altered Apple’s design of its iPhone 15, after earlier designs could not be sold in Europe. This may mean that more AI traffic in the Pacific may be steered to the open-source models which overall cost next to nothing to use. It may also spark demand for more legal and tech specialists whether for legislation, enforcement and monitoring.

Source: Scientific American

*An AI tool was used to add an extra layer to the editing process for this story.