Is Europe killing itself financially with the AI Act?

Europe is tinkering with legislation to regulate artificial intelligence. European regulators are delighted with this, but what does the world say about the AI Act?

Now the outlines for the AI Act are known, a debate is beginning to erupt around its possible implications. One camp believes regulations are needed to curb the risks of powerful AI technology, while the other is convinced that regulation will prove pernicious for the European economy. Is it out of the...

18 September 2023 | Legislation & Government

White House secures safety commitments from eight more AI companies

The Biden-Harris Administration has announced that it has secured a second round of voluntary safety commitments from eight prominent AI companies.

Representatives from Adobe, Cohere, IBM, Nvidia, Palantir, Salesforce, Scale AI, and Stability attended the White House for the announcement. These eight companies have pledged to play a pivotal role in promoting the development of safe, secure, and trustworthy AI.

The Biden-Harris Administration is actively working on an...

13 September 2023 | Artificial Intelligence

UK government outlines AI Safety Summit plans

The UK government has announced plans for the global AI Safety Summit on 1-2 November 2023.

The major event – set to be held at Bletchley Park, home of Alan Turing and other Allied codebreakers during the Second World War – aims to address the pressing challenges and opportunities presented by AI development on both national and international scales.

Secretary of State Michelle Donelan has officially launched the formal engagement process leading up to the summit....

4 September 2023 | Artificial Intelligence

Beijing publishes its AI governance rules

Chinese authorities have published rules governing generative AI which go substantially beyond current regulations in other parts of the world.

One notable requirement is that operators of generative AI must ensure that their services adhere to the core values of socialism, while also avoiding content that incites subversion of state power, secession, terrorism, or any actions undermining national unity and social stability.

Generative AI services within China are...

14 July 2023 | Artificial Intelligence

China’s deepfake laws come into effect today

China will begin enforcing its strict new rules around the creation of deepfakes from today.

Deepfakes are increasingly being used for manipulation and humiliation. We’ve seen deepfakes of figures like disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried to commit fraud, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to spread disinformation, and US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to make her appear drunk.

Last month, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) announced rules to clampdown on...

10 January 2023 | Applications

US introduces new AI chip export restrictions

NVIDIA has revealed that it’s subject to new laws restricting the export of AI chips to China and Russia.

In an SEC filing, NVIDIA says the US government has informed the chipmaker of a new license requirement that impacts two of its GPUs designed to speed up machine learning tasks: the current A100, and the upcoming H100.

“The license requirement also includes any future NVIDIA integrated circuit achieving both peak performance and chip-to-chip I/O performance equal...

1 September 2022 | Companies

UK eases data mining laws to support flourishing AI industry

The UK is set to ease data mining laws in a move designed to further boost its flourishing AI industry.

We all know that data is vital to AI development. Tech giants are in an advantageous position due to either having existing large datasets or the ability to fund/pay for the data required. Most startups rely on mining data to get started.

Europe has notoriously strict data laws. Advocates of regulations like GDPR believe they’re necessary to protect consumers, while...

29 June 2022 | Artificial Intelligence

Clearview AI agrees to restrict sales of its faceprint database

Clearview AI has proposed to restrict sales of its faceprint database as part of a settlement with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

The controversial facial recognition firm caused a stir due to scraping billions of images of people across the web without their consent. As a result, the company has faced the ire of regulators around the world and numerous court cases.

One court case filed against Clearview AI was by the ACLU in 2020, claiming that it violated...

10 May 2022 | Applications

US appeals court decides scraping public web data is fine

The US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has decided that scraping data from a public website doesn’t violate the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA).

In 2017, employment analytics firm HiQ filed a lawsuit against LinkedIn’s efforts to block it from scraping data from users’ profiles.

The court barred Linkedin from stopping HiQ scraping data after deciding the CFAA – which criminalises accessing a protected computer – doesn’t apply due to the information being...

19 April 2022 | Ethics & Society

The EU’s AI rules will likely take over a year to be agreed

Rules governing the use of artificial intelligence across the EU will likely take over a year to be agreed upon.

Last year, the European Commission drafted AI laws. While the US and China are set to dominate AI development with their vast resources, economic might, and light-touch regulation, European rivals – including the UK and EU members – believe they can lead in ethical standards.

In the draft of the EU regulations, companies that are found guilty of AI misuse...

17 February 2022 | Applications