Strasbourg (The Brussels Morning Newspaper) – The European Parliament is debating the establishment of a monitoring group for the enactment of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Act, which comes into force in August.
What Are the Concerns Over AI Act Enforcement?
MEPs have voiced concerns over the direction that the European Commission, charged with overseeing undertaking, appears to be taking on key tasks. “As the outgoing rapporteurs and shadow rapporteurs on the AI Act, we had discussions with the Commission and will soon formalise a monitoring group from the Parliament,” center-left MEP Brando Benifei (S&D) and ex-rapporteur on the EU’s landmark regulation on AI, said.
“I will for sure have a leading role [in this oversight body],” he stated. The matter will be debated among coordinators of the Parliament’s Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO), likely next week. The EU Parliament already has facilities within committees to monitor the enactment of the Digital Services and Digital Markets Acts, two landmark EU regulations on content moderation and digital competition.
How Will the AI Act Affect Transparency Provisions?
The AI Act’s implementation slips under the jurisdiction of national regulatory authorities, with the EU Commission’s AI Office charged with legend coordinating responsibilities.
The EU Commission has already begun building the AI Office and the Act will come into force on 1 August 2024, with a staggered timeline for when conditions are applicable. Benifei warned that there are risks of the AI Act failing some of its intended impact if the Commission fails to execute it properly, particularly regarding transparency provisions like watermarking and copyright protection. He expressed the Commission’s AI Office needs to operationalise fundamental rights influence assessments with clear and practical templates to address risks to citizens’ fundamental rights.
Three MEPs asked about the lack of transparency in the EU Commission’s hiring process for the new AI Office, which reportedly includes the other rapporteur of the Act, former Renew MEP Dragoș Tudorache.
What Role Will Civil Society Play in AI Oversight?
Some MEPs, including Benifei, “strongly recommended” the Commission in a letter dated 3 July to concern civil society in developing codes of practice for general-purpose AI, as objected to letting the companies write the codes themselves.
Why Are MEPs Pushing for Stronger AI Act Supervision?
Influential general-purpose AIs like ChatGPT offer some of the most concerning and controversial aspects among controllers because of their wide-ranging abilities.
The group of MEPs that shipped the letter included communists, socialists, greens, liberals, Christian democrats, and a member of the hard-right ECR group. “We received reassurances from [Single Market Commissioner Thierry] Breton, written statement that civil society and independent professionals will be fully involved in drafting the principles of practice for the most powerful models,” Benifei said.
Benifei stated that while Big Tech should contribute as stakeholders, they should not direct the drafting of these codes of practice.
The Italian MEP desires to push for having independent professionals chairing the working groups inside the AI Office to deny the influence of large companies, he stated. “Without harmonised standards, we will not have an AI Act,” Benifei cautioned. “The urgent task now is to execute digital regulations, build a strong AI Office that operates efficiently with national authorities, and assure supervision by the European Parliament,” he said.
