Generative AI was not a major component of the plans for regulating ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence technologies by EU legislators until just a few months ago, in February.
Two years prior, the bloc’s 108-pages worth of AI Act proposal that was made public contained just one use of the term “chatbot.” Deepfakes, which are visuals or audio created to impersonate human beings, were frequently mentioned when discussing AI-generated content.
However, by mid-April, MEPs were rushing to update those regulations in order to keep up with the explosion in enthusiasm for generative AI, which has caused both awe and anxiety since OpenAI presented ChatGPT six months earlier.
A fresh draught of the legislation that highlighted copyright protection as a crucial component of the endeavour to rein in AI was the result of the scramble’s culmination on Thursday.
Interviews with four senators and two more insiders shed light on how this small group of lawmakers shaped potential monumental legislation over the course of just 11 days, changing the legal environment for OpenAI and its rivals.
The draught bill is not final, and according to attorneys, it will probably take years to become effective.
However, the speed at which they work is also a noteworthy instance of consensus in Brussels, which is frequently criticised for the slowness of its decision-making.
The fastest growing app ever since its November release, ChatGPT has generated a flurry of action from Big Tech rivals and funding for generative AI firms like Anthropic or Midjourney.
Thierry Breton, an EU industry chief, alongside others have called for regulation of ChatGPT-core services due to the applications’ explosive popularity.
The billionaire CEO of the mega house Tesla Inc. (TSLA.O) and Twitter, Elon Musk, is a supporter of a group that took things a step further by writing a letter warning of grave risk from AI and pushing for stronger laws.
The dozen MEPs who were involved in the legislation’s formulation wrote an open letter on April 17 in which they agreed with some of Musk’s points and encouraged world leaders to convene a conference to discuss how to regulate the advancement of powerful AI.
Four sources who attended the meetings and asked to remain anonymous due to the sensitive nature of the discussions said that two of them, Brando Benifei, and Dragos Tudorache, proposed changes that would require companies with generative artificial intelligence (AI) systems to make available any copyrighted material that were utilized to train their models.
According to the sources, there was bipartisan backing for that strict new idea.
Conservative MEP Axel Voss made a proposal that would have required corporations to obtain permission from the original rights holders before utilising the data, but it was rejected as being too onerous and having the potential to stifle the developing industry.
The EU presented proposed legislation that might impose an uncomfortably high level of transparency on a traditionally secretive industry after working out the details over the course of the following week.
On May 11, the committee will vouch with a vote on the agreement. If it passes, it will move on to the trilogue, where EU surrounding states, the European Commission, and its Parliament will discuss its contents.
MEPs were yet to be persuaded that generative AI merited any special treatment until recently.
Tudorache stated in February that generative AI would not be discussed in-depth.
However, Tudorache and colleagues now concur that laws that specifically prohibit the use of generative AI are necessary.
Companies like OpenAI, sponsored by Microsoft Corp. (MSFT.O), would have to declare all copyrighted content, including books, photos, films, and more, that was used to train their systems under new recommendations aimed against foundation models.
In recent months, allegations of copyright infringement have alarmed AI companies.
Getty Images has filed a lawsuit against Stable Diffusion for utilising protected images to train its systems. For refusing to disclose specifics of the dataset used to perform its software, OpenAI has also come under fire.
