Proposal for EU Artificial Intelligence Act Passes Next Level – Where Do We Stand and What's Next?

Following multiple amendments and discussions, the EU Member States – the Council of the EU – approved a compromise version of the proposed Artificial Intelligence Regulation (AI Act) on December 6, 2022. Once adopted, the AI Act will be the first horizontal legislation in the EU to regulate AI systems, introducing rules for the safe and trustworthy placing on the EU market of products with an AI component. The Regulation's extraterritorial scope (i.e., application to providers and users outside the EU when the output produced by the system is used in the EU) and its exceptionally high fines of the higher of up to €30 million or up to 6 % of the company's total worldwide annual turnover for the preceding financial year, are expected to shape the regulatory requirements outside of the EU borders as has been the case with the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The first proposal for an AI Act was published by the European Commission (Commission) in April 2021. The current version of the AI Act will next have to be adopted by the European Parliament (Parliament).