EU's push for tougher AI rules sees tepid response in Asian countries - report
Parradee Kietsirikul/iStock via Getty Images
The EU is appealing to Asian countries to follow its lead on artificial intelligence (AI) in adopting new rules for technology companies which include revealing copyrighted and AI-generated content, Reuters reported citing senior officials from the EU and Asia.
The EU and its member states have sent out officials to at least 10 Asian nations including India, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and the Philippines to discuss governing the use of AI.
But the EU's aim to form strict rules governing AI has been met with tepid response from the Asian governments, the report added citing certain people with knowledge of the matter.
The EU hopes for its AI Act to be a standard for the growing tech, in a way that its data and privacy protection law, General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has helped in forming privacy rules worldwide.
However, many nations favour a "wait and see" approach or are inclined towards more flexible regulatory rules, according to the report.
Singapore wants to see how the technology evolves before adapting local rule, an official for the Asian country told the news agency. Meanwhile, some officials from Singapore and the Philippines are worried that AI innovation could be hindered with overly hurried regulations.
Earlier this month, it was reported that Japan is leaning toward softer rules than the EU, as the country looks to the technology to bolster economic growth and make it a leader in advanced chips.The EU efforts in Asia are part of a larger endeavor worldwide, which include discussions with Canada, Turkey and Israel, to govern the use of AI, the report noted citing an interview from Dutch Minister for Digitalisation Alexandra van Huffelen last month.
"We're trying to figure out on how we can make the regulation from the EU copied, applicable and mirrored ... as it is with the GDPR," Alexandra van Huffelen told the news agency in an interview in June.
EU lawmakers agreed on certain draft rules, which include making companies operating generative AI systems such as ChatGPT to disclose AI-generated content, help differentiate deep fake images from real ones and safeguard against illegal content.
The proposed rules, which also include potential fines, have met resistance from companies with over 160 executives signing an open letter warning that it could jeopardise Europe's innovation and competitiveness.
Earlier this month, China published interim measures for managing generative AI services which will go into effect Aug. 15. Among the measures proposed in the world second largest economy, are that the gen AI services must not generate incitement to subvert state power, overthrow the socialist system, endanger national security and interests.
The UN Security Council is also holding its first formal talks on AI on Tuesday, with the U.K. to call for an international dialogue about its impact on global peace and security.
Gen AI services have taken the world by storm, since the launch of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)-backed OpenAI's ChatGPT. The different types of large language models (LLMs) can provide, content and image generation services, to name a few.
Companies around the world have launched their own LLMs, Baidu's (BIDU) Ernie Bot, Alibaba's (BABA) Tongyi Qianwen and Tongyi Wanxiang. Google's (GOOG) (GOOGL) Bard, OpenAI's DALL-E, Midjourney Inc.'s Midjourney, among others.
More on the AI Race

Microsoft: Overvalued Even With The AI Revolution
One Of Google's Most Powerful Advantages In The AI Revolution