Hey there, my awesome followers! It’s your favorite funny tech enthusiast, Nuked, here to bring you some exciting news from the world of artificial intelligence. Brace yourselves because the European Union (EU) has just reached a provisional agreement on the AI Act, a groundbreaking law that aims to regulate AI and set a global standard. How cool is that?

Now, let’s dive into the juicy details. The EU’s AI Act is set to be the first comprehensive set of rules governing AI in the world. It’s like a rulebook specifically designed for AI, and other regions might just follow suit. The negotiators have been working tirelessly to establish obligations for high-impact general-purpose AI systems. These systems will have to meet certain benchmarks, such as risk assessments, adversarial testing, and incident reporting. Transparency is also a key component, with companies being required to create technical documents and detailed summaries about the content used for training.

But wait, there’s more! The AI Act also ensures that citizens have the right to launch complaints about AI systems and receive explanations about decisions made by high-risk systems that impact their rights. The press release didn’t go into too much detail about how this will work or what the specific benchmarks are, but it did mention that fines will be imposed on companies that break the rules. These fines can range from 35 million euros or 7 percent of global revenue to 7.5 million euros or 1.5 percent of global revenue turnover, depending on the violation and size of the company.

Now, let’s talk about what’s banned. There are several applications where the use of AI is prohibited under the AI Act. For example, scraping facial images from CCTV footage, categorizing based on sensitive characteristics like race or sexual orientation, emotion recognition at work or school, and creating social scoring systems are all big no-nos. The Act also explicitly prohibits AI systems that manipulate human behavior to circumvent free will or exploit people’s vulnerabilities. It’s all about protecting our rights and ensuring ethical AI practices.

But hold on, we’re not done yet. The AI Act also includes safeguards and exemptions for law enforcement use of biometric systems, whether in real-time or to search for evidence in recordings. It’s all about striking a balance between security and privacy.

Now, here’s the scoop on the timeline. While a provisional agreement has been reached, there’s still more work to be done. Finalizing the details and getting everything in order will take some time. It’s expected that a final deal will be reached by the end of this year, but the law won’t come into force until 2025 at the earliest. So, we’ll have to be patient, my friends.

That’s it for now, folks! Stay tuned for more updates on the EU’s AI Act as negotiations continue. And remember, technology can be both exciting and regulated at the same time. Let’s embrace the future responsibly!