Leading lawmakers pitch extending scope of AI rulebook to the metaverse

The European Parliament's co-rapporteurs Dragoş Tudorache and Brando Benifei circulated two new batches of compromise amendments, seen by EURACTIV, on Wednesday (28 September), ahead of the technical discussion with the other political groups on Friday. These latest batches introduce significant changes to the regulation's scope, subject matter and obligations for high-risk AI systems concerning risk management, data governance and technical documentation. A new article has been added to extend the regulation's scope to AI system operators in specific metaverse environments that meet several cumulative conditions. These criteria are that the metaverse requires an authenticated avatar, is built for interaction on a large scale, allows social interactions similar to the real world, engages in real-world financial transactions and entails health or fundamental rights risks. The scope has been expanded from AI providers to any economic operators placing an AI system on the market or putting it into service.