Earlier this month, the European Parliament passed the Western world’s first comprehensive regulations on the development and use of AI.
Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) passed the AI ACT on Wednesday (March 13), with 523 votes in favor, 46 against and 49 abstentions.
The law now needs to be approved by individual EU member states on the European Council, which is usually just a formality. Various parts of it will come into force six to 36 months after the law is published in the EU’s Official Journal.
Over in the UK, a Private Members’ Bill was introduced by Conservative politician, Lord Holmes of Richmond MBE in November called the Artificial Intelligence (Regulation) Bill [HL]. It aims to establish a new body, called the ‘AI Authority’ that would be tasked with various responsibities “designed to help address artificial intelligence (AI) regulation in the UK”.
According to this description of the Bill, these responsibilities would include: “A requirement for the AI Authority to ensure relevant existing regulators were taking account of AI; to ensure alignment in approach between these regulators; and to undertake a gap analysis of regulatory responsibilities with respect to AI. The AI authority would also have various other functions including monitoring economic risks arising from AI, conducting horizon-scanning of developing technologies, facilitating sandbox initiatives to allow the testing of new AI models, and accrediting AI auditors. In addition, the bill would introduce a set of regulatory principles governing the development and usage of AI.”
The Bill has a long way to go before it becomes law in the country, but it saw its second reading on Friday (March 22) in the UK’s House of Lords.
In the following op/ed, Lord Holmes of Richmond MBE, who you can read more about here, explains the aims of the bill…
AI offers once unimaginable ways to grow our economy and enhance people’s lives, but it also comes with immense risks if not regulated in the right way and we allow it to take us down the wrong path.
This is why I introduced my Private Members’ Bill, the Artificial Intelligence (Regulation) Bill, which receives its second reading in the House of Lords on Friday (22 March).
While the UK Government has adopted a “wait and see” approach when it comes to AI, this is not a realistic option.
Instead what is required is real leadership with the right regulation that both supports the Government’s pro-innovation goals and provides businesses with consistency, clarity and stability.
The key principles of this Bill are trust, transparency, inclusion, innovation and interoperability, as well as accountability and meaningful engagement with the public.
My Bill sets out a broad range of aims, but one particular focus is to guarantee the UK’s world-leading creative industries are not only protected from any potential harms from AI but are given every opportunity to flourish from this ever-advancing technology.
Our creative sector contributes £100 billion in GVA annually to our economy and has rightly been identified as one of the Government’s five priority areas of economic growth with a bold plan to create a million extra jobs by 2030.
This success is underpinned by a world-leading system of Intellectual Property (IP) rights, which recognises the value of human creativity and enables it to be monetised so that the cycle of investing in great new British talent and artistry can be supported.
Left unchecked, this could be put under serious threat by AI training models being able to ingest any creative content they wanted without permission or payment.
Effectively that means AI getting a free ride on any book, song, photo, film or TV programme it wants. And in the absence of robust record-keeping, there is no way of knowing what content has been used and generated by AI.
To address this, my Bill reasonably proposes that anyone involved in training AI must provide to a newly-formed AI Authority a record of all third-party data and IP used while providing assurance they have done so with informed consent. For those behind these creations, this will mean their copyright and IP are fully protected in the IP world.
“For those behind these creations, this will mean their copyright and IP are fully protected in the IP world.”
For consumers, this will offer greater clarity about how AI is being used and continued creative innovation to invest in new content from the human creators they love.
The main purpose of the AI Authority would be to provide light-touch regulation by ensuring that all the relevant and existing regulators meet their obligations regarding AI. This would result in a consistent approach in how regulation is applied across all sectors rather than the risk of individual regulators making their own interpretations.
It would also review relevant current legislation, such as consumer protection, to ensure it is fit to meet the challenges and opportunities of AI technology.
Fuelled by AI’s boundless possibilities, the Government’s ambition to turn the UK into a global tech superpower is a noble one and something that in principle I support – as I am sure do a great many of us.
This Bill aims to ensure this is done in a way that embraces the opportunities but tackles head first the risks. Get the balance right between innovation and regulation and, AI could usher in an exciting new era for everyone.Music Business Worldwide
