EU agrees ‘historic’ deal with world’s first laws to regulate AI

The European Parliament and EU member states have agreed on the world’s first comprehensive laws to regulate artificial intelligence, which also cover social media and search engines. The laws aim to protect the public from potential threats posed by AI and are seen as “historic” by European Commissioner Thierry Breton. They put the EU ahead of the US, China, and the UK in regulating AI. The agreement includes a tiered system of regulation based on the level of risk AI poses to health, safety, and human rights, with the highest-risk category being defined by the number of computer transactions needed to train the machine. The EU also secured a ban on real-time surveillance and biometric technologies, except for specific circumstances such as unexpected terrorist threats and serious crimes. The laws are centered on a human-centric approach and aim to prevent abuse by law enforcement while fostering the development of AI in Europe.