The much-discussed artificial intelligence ChatGPT has come under the microscope of the Commission, in view of the regulations being prepared for AI technology.
American OpenAI’s technology has wowed Silicon Valley with its ability to write all kinds of text on user instructions, from essays and poems to scripts and computer code.
Two months after its debut, ChatGPT broke the record for the fastest growing consumer app, having amassed 100 million active users in January.
Tech experts see ChatGPT as a big step forward in artificial intelligence, but others worry about the technology being misused as a tool for plagiarism, misinformation and fraud.
The concerns expressed about the new technology, he said, highlight the need to implement the planned rules, which could be recognized as a global standard.
“We need a robust regulatory framework to ensure with high-quality data that AI is trustworthy,” said Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton.
“High Risk” Application
OpenAI has secured billions in funding from Microsoft, which plans to integrate the technology into its Bing search engine to challenge Google’s dominance. The American company, whose co-founder was Elon Musk, assures on its website that it develops the technology “for the benefit of all humanity”.
But under the EU’s planned rules, ChatGPT would be recognized as “general purpose artificial intelligence” with potential high-risk applications such as selecting candidates for employment and calculating the creditworthiness of individuals.
ChatGPT is an example of “genetic” AI models, which are trained with a large amount of text or images pulled from the Internet, a practice that raises the issue of copyright infringement.
Although no country has yet defined an institutional framework for the dangers of AI, some American schools and universities have already moved to ban the use of ChatGPT for fear of students submitting ready-made assignments.
Worries
OpenAI and other companies in the industry are concerned that their services could be labeled “high risk,” which would mean higher requirements and higher costs, executives at several AI firms told Reuters.
In a survey conducted by industry association appliedAI, 51% of participants said they were concerned about a slowdown in the development of the technology due to legislation being prepared by the EU.
On Wednesday, Microsoft President Brad Smith said the regulatory framework should focus on high-risk apps.
“There are days when I am optimistic and days when I am pessimistic about how humanity will use artificial intelligence,” he wrote on a company blog.
Breton said the European Commission is working closely with the Council of the EU and the European Parliament on the details of the rules on general purpose AI.
“People should be informed that they are dealing with a chatbot and not a human. Transparency is also important in relation to the risk of bias and false information,” he said.
