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European Union lawmakers and member states reached provisional agreements on Thursday regarding the regulation of artificial intelligence (AI) systems, including those akin to ChatGPT, marking a significant step towards establishing groundbreaking rules for governing this technology. Talks continued into a second day, lasting nearly 24 hours.
As negotiations progressed, all parties involved in the discussions reached a provisional deal on regulating rapidly advancing generative AI systems, such as ChatGPT, in the early hours of Thursday. This breakthrough addressed a major hurdle in reaching a final agreement, according to a source familiar with the matter.
According to a document shared among lawmakers and seen by Reuters, the European Commission would maintain a list of AI models considered to pose a “systemic risk.” Additionally, providers of general-purpose AIs would be required to publish detailed summaries of the content used in their training.
The law may potentially exempt free and open-source AI licenses from regulation in most cases, unless they are deemed high-risk or used for prohibited purposes.
Terms related to other challenges, including the use of AI in biometric surveillance and source code access, were still pending resolution at the time of reporting, according to two other anonymous sources familiar with the matter.
The Council of the European Union postponed a scheduled press conference on Thursday morning as negotiations continued, with discussions starting on Wednesday at 1400 GMT.
The intense talks included moments of tension, frustration over technical glitches, and even a shortage of food and coffee for delegates around 0200 GMT, as per one source.
EU industry chief Thierry Breton acknowledged the challenges, stating, “New day, same trilogue!” on the negotiation process, in a post on the social media platform X.
The negotiations hold significant importance for the EU, potentially serving as a model for other governments seeking to formulate regulations for their AI industries, offering an alternative to the U.S.’ lighter approach and China’s interim rules.
While EU countries and lawmakers aim to finalize the draft rules proposed by the Commission within the spring for a parliamentary vote, failure to do so could result in a delay, jeopardizing the bloc’s advantage in regulating this technology.
The law has been years in the making, with the initial framework proposed in early 2021, almost two years before the transformative impact of Microsoft-backed OpenAI’s ChatGPT. The details of the agreed-upon provisions were not fully disclosed, and further discussions may still be required. A late proposal by France, Germany, and Italy suggesting self-regulation for makers of generative AI models added a point of contention. On the topic of biometric surveillance, EU lawmakers aim to ban AI use, while governments seek exceptions for national security, defense, and military purposes.
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