EU to start enforcing new AI rules on August 1

The European Union has published the full and final text of the EU Artificial Intelligence Act in its Official Journal, as reported TechCrunchSince the new law will come into effect 20 days after its publication, it will be enforceable from August 1. All of its provisions will be fully applicable in two years, but some of them will be implemented much earlier.

In six months, the EU will begin to introduce bans on prohibited uses of artificial intelligence, such as the use of social rating systems, the collection and compilation of facial recognition information for databases, and the use of real-time emotion recognition systems in schools and workplaces.

In nine months, the EU will begin implementing codes of conduct for AI developers. The EU AI Office, set up by the European Commission, will work with consulting firms to develop the codes. It also plans to work with companies that provide general-purpose models deemed to pose systemic risk. But as TechCrunch notes, this raises concerns that the industry’s biggest players will be able to shape the rules that are supposed to police them.

After a year, creators of general-purpose AI models like ChatGPT will have to comply with new transparency requirements and demonstrate that their systems are safe and easy to explain to users. On top of all this, the EU AI Act includes provisions on generative AI and manipulated media, such as clear labeling of deepfakes and other AI-generated images, videos, and sounds.

Companies training their AI models will also have to comply with copyright laws, unless their model is created solely for research and development purposes. “Rightsholders may reserve rights in their works or other content to prevent text and data mining except for scientific purposes,” the AI ​​Act states. “Where opt-out rights have been expressly reserved in an appropriate manner, providers of general purpose AI models must obtain permission from rightsholders if they wish to conduct text and data mining of such works.”