The European Union and the United States announced Wednesday a draft joint "code of conduct" on artificial intelligence (AI) to the voluntary application for companies in the sector, facing the risk of China giving the lead to regulate a booming field.
From policymakers to technology designers themselves, a global consensus is emerging on the need to regulate – more or less freely – a technology with revolutionary effects but high risks of slippage. The code of conduct announced Wednesday "would be open to all like-minded countries," said US Foreign Minister Antony Blinken at a joint press conference with Brussels heavyweights.
A first version "in the coming weeks"
The vice-president of the European Commission in charge of Competition, Margrethe Vestager, known for her arm wrestling with the American giants of the Net, indicated that a preliminary version would be presented "in the coming weeks". "We think it's really important for citizens to be able to see that democracies are acting," she said.
Among other things, Americans and Europeans fear that Chinese standards will be imposed if the West does not unite. The idea is to arrive "very, very soon" at a final proposal, hoping to rally "the widest circle possible," explained Margrethe Vestager, citing "our friends in Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan, India".
The world has discovered with amazement in recent months the capabilities of this maturing technology, with its machines and software capable of learning at high speed to improve their performance. The European Union is preparing a comprehensive and mandatory legal framework that would apply to AI in a few years – at the earliest by the end of 2025 – but the code of conduct designed with Washington will be voluntary, Vestager said.
An ever-changing ecosystem
The sector is dominated by American giants such as Microsoft – the main shareholder of OpenAI, the firm that operates ChatGPT – or Meta or Google. But the ecosystem is evolving very quickly, especially with open source platforms able to compete or even take the technological lead very quickly.
China also has plans for regulation, including a "safety inspection" of artificial intelligence tools. On the American side, despite many discussions, no imperative project is currently on the table. The EU and the US "share the common view that artificial intelligence technologies present great opportunities but also pose risks to our societies," the two major powers said in a final statement.
