The EU and Google just made 2024's AI race even more spectacular
Just as Google launched Gemini to compete with OpenAI, the European Union has opened the door to a new kind of AI competition.
Even with its very public boardroom fracas, OpenAI is ending the year as the frontrunner in the AI race. ChatGPT has become synonymous with artificial intelligence, and the deals OpenAI cuts with companies like Morgan Stanley have it on track to generate USD1 billion ($1.52 billion) in annual revenue.
But despite the breakneck pace of AI development, events just in the past week are a reminder that we're merely in the early stages of a marathon.
Over the weekend, the European Union agreed to the EU AI Act. The expansive legislation, which began taking shape all the way back in 2018, sets rules around how companies deploy AI. It prohibits various forms of AI-powered surveillance, including using it for "emotional recognition" of staff and students, and systems that "manipulate human behaviour to circumvent their free will".
Once officially passed by the European Parliament, the Act will set a few standards that will directly affect OpenAI and its Big Tech peers, mostly around transparency. Companies building big, powerful AI models like GPT-4, on which ChatGPT is based, will need to document to government what data was used in the process, and how it was trained. That will make it harder for companies to violate copyright law, something OpenAI has been sued for, and also help track the carbon emitted from the process of developing and deploying artificial intelligence.
