EU Proposes First International AI Regulations

Amid policymakers’ concerns about the ethical challenges presented by rapid innovation, the EU proposed the first international regulation for artificial intelligence (AI) in 2021. The AI Act is expected to pass in 2024.

“We don’t know what the status of AI will be in 2024 or 2025. We don’t know to what extent what we’re trying to regulate now will be applicable to the future,” said Andrea G. Rodríguez, Lead Digital Policy Analyst at the European Policy Centre (EPC).

Meanwhile, the field is growing rapidly, with more than 4,000 scientific papers published on AI and COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic.

Potential ethical issues include opaque decision-making and biased algorithms. An EPC policy brief published in early 2022 called for effective oversight and communication with healthcare providers and European citizens to garner trust.

Source: Healthcare IT News, March 1, 2022.