EU Will Regulate AI

The EU in mid-May began its effort to regulate artificial intelligence (AI) for several reasons, including privacy, ethical application, and copyright protection. As part of the effort to address AI, the EU parliament has proposed a ban on AI-aided facial recognition in public spaces.  

Why It Matters

AI requires the use of vast data stores to train the tool/application. Applications such as ChatGPT "learn" by ingesting information to build their general knowledge, and continuing to suck in data as they interact with humans. The EU is considering whether this process of machine learning impinges on personal privacy, on intellectual property rights, or otherwise falls foul of the rights of individuals. They and other regulators are likely to continue studying AI for several years to see whether such tools are using material that is not authorized, or intended, for retention and continued use and modification. For any business looking to deploy AI in the workplace, we encourage you to use appropriate vendor/customer agreements concerning the AI tool, as well as properly notifying any employees, consumers, or other affected individuals about whether their interaction with the tool will require the collection and ongoing use of information from them.