A group of MEPs involved in the
negotiations on the European law on artificial intelligence,
including the AI ;;Act rapporteur Brando Benifei, have written
to the vice president of the European Commission, Henna
Virkkunen, to express "grave concern" about the code of good
practices on general-purpose AI (such as OpenAI's Gpt-4) that is
expected to be finalized in May.
This is a code that will have to detail the rules of the AI
;;Act that apply to providers of general-purpose AI models, in
particular those with systemic risks.
The first drafts of the code, MEPs say, are watering down the AI
;;Act's rules on general-purpose AI models with systemic risk to
the point of "completely reinterpreting and narrowing a legal
text that the co-legislators agreed, through a code of
practice". A "dangerous, undemocratic move, creating legal
uncertainty", MEPs argue, criticising a text that is too
unbalanced in favour of Big Tech.
Under the AI ;;Act, providers of models with systemic risks are
required to assess and mitigate risks, report serious incidents,
conduct state-of-the-art testing and model assessments and
ensure the cybersecurity of their models. In the letter, MEPs
denounce the fact that "the assessment and mitigation of various
risks to fundamental rights and democracy is now suddenly
entirely voluntary" and stress that "this was never the
intention of the trilogue agreement". "Risks to fundamental
rights and democracy - they write - are systemic risks that the
providers of the most impactful AI models must assess and
mitigate".
"If the providers of the most impactful generic AI models were
to adopt more extreme political positions, implement policies
that undermine the model's trustworthiness, facilitate foreign
interference or electoral manipulation, contribute to
discrimination, restrict freedom of information or spread
illegal content, the consequences could profoundly disrupt the
European economy and democracy", warn the MEPs, calling on
Virkkunen "if necessary" to reject any code that does not
protect society from systemic risks to health, safety,
fundamental rights and democracy.
The rules on general purpose AI will apply from 2 August 2025.
The AI ;;Office, set up within the Commission, is facilitating
the drafting of the Code of Practice, with four working groups
chaired by independent experts and involving almost a thousand
stakeholders, representatives of EU Member States and European
and international observers.
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