Impressed by the success of ChatGPT, Europe wants to regulate AI

The European Commission is currently establishing regulations around these tools in order to protect the general public as well as institutions and businesses.

ChatGPT is the fastest growing app to date. His performance is such that he can write articles, essays, and even poems. At least, for now. The tool, destined to evolve further, turns out to be as fascinating as it is frightening. It is the emblem of a technology that is developing so quickly that it is still quite difficult to imagine what it could become in the years, or even in the months to come.

Regulators try to keep pace

Chatbots can be misused for plagiarism, fraud or fake news, and the need for a legal framework could quickly become vital. This is what Thierry Breton, European Commissioner for the Internal Market, thinks. He wants to respond to these concerns as quickly as possible and create a precedent that could bring the rest of the world in its wake. The European Union is imposing itself ever more frontally on the tech giants, so it is not so surprising to see it taking such a step so quickly.

However, these new AIs present her with a somewhat more difficult and rather unique challenge. Indeed, their very rapid development forces legislators to work at full speed. Breton, who had proposed regulating artificial intelligence as early as 2021, says the European Commission is already working with the Council of the Union and the European Parliament to clarify the rules which will end up in future laws. While ChatGPT was only released in November 2022!

In addition, faced with the new uses caused by tools such as ChatGPT, the legal framework remains to be defined. Breton wants close collaboration with developers to help them easily comply with the new regulations, but he is also campaigning for a deep integration of them into the very operation of AI. The European politician summarizes:

As ChatGPT has shown, AI solutions can provide great opportunities for businesses and citizens, but can also present risks. That’s why we need a strong regulatory framework to ensure trustworthy AI based on high-quality data.

An industry fearful of repercussions

If Microsoft, which supports the publisher of ChatGPT, has not officially commented on these announcements, its leader has however stressed that such regulations should focus on the most risky uses. Brad Smith, like others in the industry, is concerned that future regulations will categorize these AIs as ” high risk thus increasing compliance requirements and development costs. This would mark a slowdown in business, possibly limiting future innovations. He says : ” There are days when I’m optimistic and times when I’m pessimistic about how humanity will put AI to good use. »

For Breton, the main thing is to defend the users: ” They should be warned if they are dealing with a chatbot and not a human. Transparency is also paramount regarding the risk of bias and misinformation. These tools have not finished being talked about, and the intervention of the European Commission shows how important the subject is. This even though giants like Google, or its Chinese equivalent Baidu, are also getting into the race and major schools now formally prohibit their use.

Source : Reuters