Factbox: Governments race to regulate AI tools

Melco International Development

11/09/2023 13:57

(Updates Australia entry with search engines regulation, adds
planned congress hearings in U.S. entry)
       Sept 11 (Reuters) - Rapid advances in artificial
intelligence (AI) such as Microsoft-backed OpenAI's ChatGPT are
complicating governments' efforts to agree laws governing the
use of the technology.
    Here are the latest steps national and international
governing bodies are taking to regulate AI tools:

    AUSTRALIA
        
    * 
    Planning regulations
  
        Australia will make search engines, such as Alphabet's
Google and Microsoft's Bing, 
    draft new codes
     to prevent the sharing of child sexual abuse material
created by AI and the production of deepfake versions of the
same material, the country's internet regulator said on Sept. 8.
  

    BRITAIN    
    * Planning regulations
    The Financial Conduct Authority, one of several state
regulators that has been tasked with drawing up new guidelines
covering AI, is consulting with the Alan Turing Institute and
other legal and academic institutions to improve its
understanding of the technology, a spokesperson told Reuters.
    Britain's competition regulator said in May it would start
examining the impact of AI on consumers, businesses and the
economy and whether new controls were needed.

    CHINA
    * Implemented temporary regulations
    China has issued a set of temporary measures effective from
Aug. 15 to manage the generative AI industry, requiring service
providers to submit security assessments and receive clearance
before releasing mass-market AI products.
    Following government approvals, four Chinese tech firms,
including Baidu Inc  9888.HK  and SenseTime Group  0200.HK ,
launched their AI chatbots to the public on Aug. 31.

    EUROPEAN UNION
    * Planning regulations
    EU lawmakers agreed in June to changes in a draft of the
bloc's AI Act. The lawmakers will now have to thrash out details
with EU countries before the draft rules become legislation.
    The biggest issue is expected to be facial recognition and
biometric surveillance where some lawmakers want a total ban
while EU countries want an exception for national security,
defence and military purposes.
    
    FRANCE
        * Investigating possible breaches
    France's privacy watchdog CNIL said in April it was
investigating several complaints about ChatGPT after the chatbot
was temporarily banned in Italy over a suspected breach of
privacy rules.
    France's National Assembly approved in March the use of AI
video surveillance during the 2024 Paris Olympics, overlooking
warnings from civil rights groups.
    
    G7
        * Seeking input on regulations
    Group of Seven (G7) leaders meeting in Hiroshima, Japan,
acknowledged in May the need for governance of AI and immersive
technologies and agreed to have ministers discuss the technology
as the "Hiroshima AI process" and report results by the end of
2023.
    G7 nations should adopt "risk-based" regulation on AI, G7
digital ministers said after a meeting in April.
    
    IRELAND
    * Seeking input on regulations
    Generative AI needs to be regulated, but governing bodies
must work out how to do so properly before rushing into
prohibitions that "really aren't going to stand up", Ireland's
data protection chief said in April.
    
    ISRAEL
    * Seeking input on regulations   
    Israel has been working on AI regulations "for the last 18
months or so" to achieve the right balance between innovation
and the preservation of human rights and civic safeguards, Ziv
Katzir, director of national AI planning at the Israel
Innovation Authority, said in June.
    Israel published a 115-page draft AI policy in October and
is collating public feedback ahead of a final decision.
    
    ITALY
        * Investigating possible breaches
    Italy's data protection authority plans to review other
artificial intelligence platforms and hire AI experts, a top
official said in May.
    ChatGPT became available again to users in Italy in April
after being temporarily banned over concerns by the national
data protection authority in March.
    
    JAPAN
        * Investigating possible breaches
    Japan expects to introduce by the end of 2023 regulations
that are likely closer to the U.S. attitude than the stringent
ones planned in the EU, an official close to deliberations said
in July, as it looks to the technology to boost economic growth
and make it a leader in advanced chips.
    The country's privacy watchdog said in June it had warned
OpenAI not to collect sensitive data without people's permission
and to minimise the sensitive data it collects.
    
    SPAIN
    * Investigating possible breaches
    Spain's data protection agency said in April it was
launching a preliminary investigation into potential data
breaches by ChatGPT. It has also asked the EU's privacy watchdog
to evaluate privacy concerns surrounding ChatGPT.
    
    UNITED NATIONS
    * Planning regulations
    The U.N. Security Council held its first formal discussion
on AI in New York in July. The council addressed both military
and non-military applications of AI, which "could have very
serious consequences for global peace and security", U.N.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said.
    Guterres in June backed a proposal by some AI executives for
the creation of an AI watchdog like the International Atomic
Energy Agency, but noted that "only member states can create it,
not the Secretariat of the United Nations".
    The U.N. Secretary-General has also announced plans to start
work by the end of the year on a high-level AI advisory body to
regularly review AI governance arrangements and offer
recommendations.
    
    U.S.
    * Seeking input on regulations
        Congress will hold 
    three hearings on AI
     on Sept. 11, 12, and 13 as it works on legislation to
mitigate the dangers of the emerging technology. Talks include a
hearing with Microsoft  MSFT.O  President Brad Smith and Nvidia
 NVDA.O  chief scientist William Daly, an AI forum including
Meta Platforms  META.O  CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Tesla CEO Elon
Musk, and meetings of various House and Senate subcommittees.
  
    Washington D.C. district Judge Beryl Howell ruled on Aug. 21
that a work of art created by AI without any human input cannot
be copyrighted under U.S. law, affirming the Copyright Office's
rejection of an application filed by computer scientist Stephen
Thaler on behalf of his DABUS system.
    The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) opened in July an
expansive investigation into OpenAI on claims that it has run
afoul of consumer protection laws by putting personal
reputations and data at risk.
    Generative AI raises competition concerns and is a focus of
the FTC's Bureau of Technology along with its Office of
Technology, the agency said in a blog post in June.
    Senator Michael Bennet wrote to leading tech firms in June
to urge them to label AI-generated content and limit the spread
of material aimed at misleading users. He had introduced a bill
in April to create a task force to look at U.S. policies on AI.

 (Compiled by Alessandro Parodi and Amir Orusov in Gdansk; 
Editing by Kirsten Donovan, Mark Potter, Milla Nissi and Louise
Heavens)
 ((alessandro.parodi@thomsonreuters.com))