With the adoption of the AI Act, the EU has once again shown its intention to remain at the forefront of legal developments around the world. The need to regulate Artificial Intelligence is ever more increasing, having in mind its ever-increasing usage. With the Act, the EU aims to create a protected and stable AI-environment, for the users as well as the developers. The three main advantages that the Act offers are as follows:
Categorization – One of the key characteristics of the EU AI Act is the highlighted distinction of different AI models. The Act recognizes three different categories of AI systems: Unnaceptable-risk models, High-risk models and General-purpose AI models. This distinction is bound to help providers have clear guidelines when developing their own AI model.
Transparency – Providers and developers of certain AI systems are required to clearly inform end-users of different AI systems that they are using an AI model or consuming AI-generated content. In addition, providers and developers of General-purpose, as well as High-risk AI models are required to publish detailed descriptions of various factors related to training the model.
Safety – The Act is predominantly focused on minimizing any potential harm that can be caused by AI systems. Therefore, any kind of discriminative, social scoring, or exploitative AI is marked as unacceptable.
While there are many more advantages that the Act offers, there are also some disadvantages:
Increased development costs – Following the demands outlined by the Act will likely result in increased costs for the creators of AI systems, which could put SMEs and startups at a significant disadvantage compared to vast corporations.
Time consuming – In addition, the high number of requirements will likely increase the development time, which in the end could lead to the EU falling behind in the AI race.
Reduced utility – While a high number of different requirements is bound to have a positive effect on the general safety in the AI-space, it is also possible that they could hinder the functionality of AI models.
Having in mind these downsides of the Act, they are sure to be outweighed by the advantages it provides.