Members of European Parliament passed the Artificial Intelligence Act 13 March, aiming to maintain advancements in AI technologies while regulating their use. The groundbreaking legal framework still has steps to go before finalization and will take effect 20 days after publishing in the European Union's Official Journal.

The AI Act is the first comprehensive framework the world has seen to establish rules around AI development and use. Global impressions and impacts will take shape over time, but stakeholders have begun reacting to the pending regulation.

The IAPP hosted a LinkedIn Live with IBM Vice President and Chief Privacy and Trust Officer Christina Montgomery and OpenAI Associate General Counsel, Privacy and Data Protection Emma Redmond in the hours after Parliament's vote, exploring how the law will affect global AI governance practices.

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Responses to the passage among other stakeholders vary. Industry players are welcoming the rules while looking toward compliance and regulatory options. Members of civil society have been more critical, with some saying the AI Act does not do enough to protect human rights and will harm both citizens and their intellectual property.

Here's a collection of reactions among various groups and individuals.

Industry

  • "IBM stands ready to lend our technology and expertise — including our watsonx.governance product — to help our clients and other stakeholders comply with the EU AI Act and upcoming legislation worldwide so we can all unlock the incredible potential of responsible AI," IBM's Christina Montgomery said in a company statement.
  • DigitalEurope Director General Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl offered five key considerations companies looking to prepare for AI Act compliance should begin thinking about, including advancing their AI security measures and aim to invest in AI. She said it was "vital" to "think deeply about how to keep our brightest companies here in Europe and take action to create even more of them."
  • Information Technology Industry Council Senior Policy Manager for Europe Marco Leto Barone's statement indicated the group's members are focused on the next steps toward implementation. He said, "Legal clarity and predictable application of the Regulation will be fundamental for innovators."
  • AI Ireland released a statement noting how the world will view the AI Act as "a blueprint for other nations to emulate" and a framework "establishing a precedent for responsible AI governance in the digital era."
  • Booking.com wrote a blog explaining how AI is a prioritized tool for its website. The platform is "looking ahead" to the AI Liability Directive in a push to modernize AI regulation.
  • The German Trade Union Confederation's statement called the AI Act an important milestone for operational AI usage while noting the need for additional protections against AI risks within the framework. "We are therefore calling on the federal government to not only provide technical support for the implementation of the AI ​​regulation but also to create an intelligent AI legal framework for good work," said DGB Chair Yasmin Fahimi.
  • In a statement, European Grouping of Authors' Societies General Manager Véronique Desbrosses thanked Parliament for its efforts to prevent authors' work from being exploited by AI. She added, "Recent practice already shows that there is no reason to compromise these crucial requirements."
  • The Federation of European Publishers welcomed the AI Act, noting how it will mitigate "illegal use of copyright-protected works, an absence of remuneration for rightsholders and no transparency" associated with writers' work being used to train AI. "AI as a technology has great potential, including for our industry, but its original sin could not be overlooked, and the EU has now ensured that it can be corrected," FEP President Ricardo Franco Levi said in a statement.
  • In a joint statement, the European Audiovisual Production along and other creative organizations said the AI Act's copyright obligation is "the first step" toward ensuring AI is used ethically and effectively.

Civil Society

  • Access Now stated plans to work with fellow advocacy groups "to push for the strongest possible implementation of the AI Act and the few rights-protecting tools it includes, while continuing to monitor and call out AI-facilitated abuses." In a statement, Senior Policy Analyst Daniel Leufer added the pending legislation contains "exemptions for the most dangerous uses of AI by law enforcement and migration authorities" and carries "prohibitions so full of loopholes that they don't actually ban some of the most dangerous uses of AI."
  • In a blog post, Amnesty International Advocacy Advisor on AI Mher Hakobyan claimed the EU prioritized "the industry and law enforcement agencies" over citizens. Hakobyan said the AI Act "lacks proper accountability and transparency provisions, which will likely exacerbate human rights abuses."
  • Centre for European Policy Studies Researcher Paula Gürtler wrote a post calling the pending regulation "crucial" while indicating stakeholders must also "shape innovation to match our aspirations."
  • The European Disability Forum issued a statement claiming the AI Act does not fully protect human rights. AI "can pose significant risks to persons with disabilities and other marginalised groups if it is not properly regulated. The AI Act addresses human rights, but not as comprehensively as we hoped for," the group wrote.

EU officials

  • European Data Protection Supervisor Wojciech Wiewiórowski issued a statement recognizing his office's duties to oversee AI use by EU institutions and bodies. He indicated he will work closely with the European AI Office to "try to keep our role as the benchmark in this regulation."
  • Finnish Member of the European Parliament Miapetra Kumpula-Natri wrote a blog discussing Parliament's work on the AI Act, misconceptions on its timing and emphasis on what companies need to do to prepare for implementation. "When easy-to-use, free artificial intelligence tools started to become available to everyone, people started asking for regulation and the more skeptical thought we were too late," she said. "Although development is going at a breakneck pace, we are only in the early stages of artificial intelligence development."