Strasbourg, France, March 13 (AFP/APP):EU lawmakers are poised to approve on Wednesday wide-ranging rules to govern artificial intelligence, including powerful systems like OpenAI's ChatGPT, marking the final major hurdle before formal adoption.
Senior European Union officials say the rules, first proposed in 2021, will protect citizens from the possible risks while also fostering innovation on the continent.
Brussels has sprinted to pass the new law since OpenAI's Microsoft-backed ChatGPT arrived on the scene in late 2022, unleashing a new global AI race.
There was a burst of excitement for generative AI as ChatGPT could spew out eloquent text within seconds, including poems and essays, as well as pass medical exams.
Further examples of generative AI models include DALL-E and Midjourney, which produce images, while other models produce sounds from a simple input in everyday language.
"The EU delivered. No ifs, no buts, no later," said Dragos Tudorache, the lawmaker who pushed the text through parliament with another MEP, Brando Benifei.
"Europe is now a global standard-setter in trustworthy AI," said the EU's internal market commissioner, Thierry Breton.
The EU's 27 states are expected to endorse the text in April before the law is published in the EU's Official Journal in May or June.
The rules covering AI models like ChatGPT will enter into force 12 months after the law becomes official, while companies must comply with most other rules in two years.
