It was a very long night among the negotiators of the European institutions who were preparing to prepare the artificial intelligence law. After nearly 22 non-stop hours, discussions between the Commission, the European Parliament and the EU Council, which represents the states, were adjourned on Thursday and will resume today.
The negotiators arrived ready to close one of the key laws of this legislature, but as predicted, the discussions did not seem easy. “A lot of progress has been made in the last 22 hours”, the European Internal Market Commissioner, Thierry Breton, assured the X social network. The hope is that today a pioneering piece of legislation will be passed in the world that regulates the use of artificial intelligence based on the risk it entails.
“We know that it will not be easy, that it will not be resolved in a couple of hours (…), but the alternative of not reaching an agreement is the status quo and right now there is no control over anything”, they warned sources in the negotiation hours before the discussions began. In the evening, progress was made in matters of weight. One of the main ones is how the use of what are known as foundational models, such as ChatGPT, is regulated, although the details are not known. When the European Commission proposed the law in 2021, then this technology did not even exist. Now, it’s on its fourth version. For this reason, the Eurochamber insisted that the regulation of this model should be introduced into the law, even more so after the impact it has had on the sector and to which other systems have been added, such as Bard and the recent release of Gemini (both from Google).
Shortly before yesterday’s meeting began, the positions were far apart. The Eurochamber demanded that the developers show that the foundational models are safe, especially when used in risky contexts, and that the system does not discriminate on the basis of race. Instead, the countries opted for self-regulation of the companies themselves.
But as expected, the main point of friction is in what context a technology should be banned or considered high risk. Negotiators were embroiled in what cases biometric surveillance, such as facial recognition cameras, can be accepted. For the Eurochamber it should be completely banned, although the negotiator of the Eurochamber, the social democrat Brando Benifei, was open to allowing it in some cases and with safeguards, while the states consider that it can be used in very specific situations, such as in cases of terrorism or national security – particularly important for France – and under judicial authorization.
The negotiators hope to close today one of the key laws for Spain, which holds the rotating presidency of the Council. Even the first vice-president, Nadia Calviño, taking advantage of the fact that she was meeting with the ministers of economy of the eurozone, approached the meeting room to take an interest in the state of the discussions. “Be careful”, warned commissioner Thierry Breton.