For July’s edition of Democracy Drinks, Liberties invited Pegah Maham, project director on artificial intelligence at Stiftung Neue Verantwortung, to join Orsolya Reich, senior advocacy officer at Liberties, to discuss the rise and regulation of AI in Europe and beyond. Much of the discussion centered around the AI Act, the draft EU law to regulate AI and protect fundamental rights.

The “self-certification” question

Pegah discussed how the AI Act is not yet one piece of legislation – rather, the three main bodies of the EU law-making process, the Commission, the Council and the Parliament, have each offered their own version of the law.

Shifting the approach

Orsolya said that although the risk-based approach is disappointing, it is at least a regulatory approach that is supposed to set enforceable and specific duties (even though some stakeholders are currently trying to water them down to the point that they may not be very different to self-regulation). One of the most important features of the EU’s AI legislation is a shift in its regulatory approach. For years, the narrative has centered on trustworthy AI and self-regulatory ethical guidelines for tech companies. European legislators appear to now agree, however, that self-regulation is not sufficient and have shifted the discourse from abstract AI ethics to more concrete human rights considerations.

Like a box of chocolates?

In truth, we don’t know what we’re going to get when it comes to the AI Act. The three legislative bodies of the EU are now sitting down for the trialogues – secretive final meetings where the three drafts will be reconciled and a single piece of legislation will be agreed and become law.

Both Pegah and Orsolya remarked about the level of lobbying that tech companies are doing around this law, and how some – we’re looking at you, ChatGPT – are publicly saying one thing (“regulate us!”) while having their lobbyists quietly say something quite different to EU lawmakers (“don’t regulate us!”).

Liberties, Stiftung Neue Verantwortung and other rights groups will be eagerly watching to see what comes out of the trialogues– and we should know by the end of the year. Stay tuned to Liberties for all the latest news on the EU AI Act and other uses of artificial intelligence in Europe.

Previous Democracy Drinks events:

NGO 'Foreign Agent' Law: Will the EU Follow Russia's Path? | Democracy Drinks Berlin

Qatargate: Is Political Corruption Rife in the EU? | Democracy Drinks Berlin

Follow the EU Money – If You Can | Democracy Drinks Berlin

Hate Speech = Free Speech? | Democracy Drinks Berlin