Discrimination is a bigger threat posed by artificial intelligence than possible extinction of the human race, according to the EU's competition commissioner. Margrethe Vestager said although the existential risk from advances in AI may be a concern, it was unlikely, whereas discrimination from the technology was a real problem. She told the BBC "guardrails" were needed for AI, including for situations where it was being used for decisions that could affect livelihoods, such as mortgage applications or access to social services. "Probably [the risk of extinction] may exist, but I think the likelihood is quite small. I think the AI risks are more that people will be discriminated [against], they will not be seen as who they are," she said.

Companies deploying AI tools with the ability to generate disinformation, such as ChatGPT and Bard, should label such content as part of their efforts to combat fake news, according to European Commission deputy head Vera Jourova. Unveiled late last year, Microsoft-backed OpenAI's ChatGPT has become the fastest-growing consumer application in history and set off a race among tech companies to bring generative AI products to market. Concerns however are mounting about potential abuse of the technology and the possibility that bad actors and even governments may use it to produce far more disinformation than before. "Signatories who integrate generative AI into their services like Bingchat for Microsoft, Bard for Google should build in necessary safeguards that these services cannot be used by malicious actors to generate disinformation," Jourova told a press conference on Monday. "Signatories who have services with a potential to disseminate AI-generated disinformation should, in turn, put in place technology to recognise such content and clearly label this to users," she said.