EU extends talks on AI Act after 24 hours of debate

The news: EU Parliament members will continue debate on Friday over what will become the framework for supervision of artificial intelligence across Europe.

The context: Despite some agreement during 24 hours of negotiations, members have failed to agree to a complete set of rules to govern the space in what the EU hopes will be the western world’s first AI framework.

According to draft documents seen by Reuters, the Act would not apply to open-source licences unless they were for instance, deemed too high-risk or being used for already banned purposes. These exemptions would likely be looked on favourably by France and Germany, who are keen to allow their successful generative AI firms (such as Mistral and Aleph Alpha) to self-regulate.

What they said: EU Commissioner Thierry Breton took to social media platform X to provide an update on the discussions: “Lots of progress made over past 22 hours on the #AIAct. Resuming work with EU Parliament and Council tomorrow at 9:00 AM. Stay tuned!”