Legislators in the European Union have pushed forward with a draft of a new bill designed to keep artificial intelligence technology in check. According to the bill, the high-risk tools will not be banned entirely, though they will be subjected to stricter transparency procedures. In particular, generative AI tools, including ChatGPT and Midjourney, will be obliged to disclose any use of copyrighted materials in AI training.
The AI developers came under intense scrutiny in Europe recently, with Italy being the first Western nation to temporarily ban ChatGPT. Last week regulators in Germany followed by demanding answers from OpenAI concerning the company’s intentions and ability to comply with the strict data privacy laws enshrined in the EU’s General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR). Marit Hansen, the commissioner for the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, told AFP reporters that regulators in Germany “want to know if a data protection impact assessment has been carried out and if the data protection risks are under control.”