Macron urges Europe to simplify its regulations to get back into the AI race
All eyes were on French President Emmanuel Macron Sunday at the end of the first day of the Artificial Intelligence Action Summit in Paris after he
I don't understand much about the subject, but I really hope it won't be necessary to do such a thing.
The title should have used streamline in stead of simplify. The article suggests that.." the European Union wants to streamline regulation".
Simplifying is also used as synonymous to cut regulations, usually in favor of business, but also causing disadvantages in consumer & privacy rights.
Regulations only work in improving the well-being of the single market if the local producers can remain competitive after implementation. There are a small number of regulations in the EU which have damaged local manufacturers without significant improvement in quality of life e.g the medical device regulation. I do not know enough about the ai regulation to understand if it is for for purpose or not however.
Given the "free for all" other countries appear to be giving their AI systems, the EU may look to re-consider the ai regulation's implementation.
Read through the regulations.
I see them as necessary protections against a technology that can—in the wrong hands—be an existential threat to individual liberty and democracy. The loosening of these regulations is not something I would be happy about, especially since most of the AI craze lately has been mainly focused on LLMs (questionably useful, extremely energy hungry, large scale investment incompatible with climate goals) and recommender systems.
Both of these use cases have contributed to a deep polarization of society through a barrage of fake content and the creation of echo chambers/social bubbles. Allowing further unregulated uses in areas that are, as of right now, controlled because of high risk (such as social scoring, biometric identification or cognitive behavioral manipulation), seems deeply irresponsible to me.
