Draft legislation, leaked ahead of its official release later this month, suggests the EU is attempting to find a "third way" on AI regulation, between the free market US and authoritarian China. In a way, the news is no surprise, as the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, promised to urgently bring in AI legislation when she was elected in 2019. Daniel Leufer at Access Now, one of the groups that has previously advised the EU on AI, says Europe has long had a strategy to take a third way between the US and China on tech regulation, and says the draft legislation has promise. It remains to be seen whether the UK will follow the EU in regulating AI now that it has left the bloc. The UK Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy told New Scientist that the government has formed an independent panel called the Regulatory Horizons Council to advise on what regulation is needed to react to new technology such as AI.

A European Union plan to regulate artificial intelligence could see companies that break proposed rules on mass surveillance and discrimination fined millions of euros. Draft legislation, leaked ahead of its official release later this month, suggests the EU is attempting to find a "third way" on AI regulation, between the free market US and authoritarian China. The draft rules represent an outright ban on AI designed to manipulate people "to their detriment", carry out indiscriminate surveillance or calculate "social scores". Much of the wording is currently vague enough that it could cover the entire advertising industry or nothing at all. In any case, the military and any agency ensuring public security are exempt.