Brussels: Europe and the Arabs
Artificial Intelligence is already changing our daily lives. And this is just the beginning. Using AI wisely and at scale promises enormous benefits for our economy and society. This is how Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, commented today, Saturday, on the news that the European Union institutions had reached a political agreement in this regard. She said in a statement distributed in Brussels, “Therefore, I very much welcome the political agreement reached today by the European Parliament and the Council,” which represents the member states. Concerning the law on artificial intelligence.
"The EU AI Law is the first ever comprehensive legal framework on AI worldwide. So, this is a historic moment. The AI Law brings European values into a new era. It is a commitment we have taken on in our political guidelines on the Commission's mandate," she added. This - and we implemented it.
Today's agreement focuses regulation on identifiable risks, provides legal certainty and opens the way for trustworthy AI innovation. By ensuring the safety and fundamental rights of people and businesses, the law will support the human-centred development, transparency and responsibility of the deployment and use of AI in the EU.
This vision guided us when we first introduced the AI Act in April 2021 – and again just a few weeks ago, when we decided to open up our world-class supercomputers to European AI startups and SMEs. By accelerating AI training and testing, and reducing training time from months to weeks, this will help the EU AI community to expand in a responsible way. At the same time, we invest more than €1 billion annually from the Horizon Europe and Digital Europe programs in AI research and innovation.
Until the law is fully enforceable, we will support businesses and developers to anticipate the new rules. About 100 companies have already expressed their interest in joining our AI Charter, under which they commit on a voluntary basis to implement key obligations of the law before the statutory deadline.
Our AI Act will also contribute significantly to the development of global guardrails for trustworthy AI. We will continue our work at the international level, in the G7, the OECD, the Council of Europe, the G20 and the United Nations. Most recently, we supported the agreement reached by G7 leaders within the Hiroshima AI Process on international guidelines and a voluntary code of conduct for advanced AI systems.
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