EU Watchdog Groups Urge Governments to Investigate AI Risks to Consumers

• EU consumer protection groups are urging governments to investigate AI models, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
• The coalition of watchdog groups wrote to national consumer and data protection authorities as well as the US President Joe Biden with similar concerns.
• Regulators in the EU, US and UK have proposed regulations targeting AI.

EU Consumer Protection Groups Urge Governments to Investigate AI

A coalition of 13 watchdog groups from the European Union (EU) has urged regulators to assess the risks and vulnerabilities consumers are subjected to due to generative AI models, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT. The group wrote to their respective national consumer, data protection, competition and product safety authorities as well as United States President Joe Biden with concerns about potential harm caused by AI systems.

Risks of Generative AI Highlighted

The warning issued by these watchdog groups highlighted a report from the Norwegian Consumer Council that pointed out various dangers associated with the use of generative AI chatbots such as disinformation, data harvesting and manipulation.

EU Passes Monumental AI Act

On June 14th 2021, regulators in the EU passed an monumental AI Act which will take effect within two to three years after individual negotiations with member states regarding the details of the act. The law is designed to provide comprehensive set rules for developing and deploying artificial intelligence within Europe.

US Mulling Regulations Targeting AI

In addition, on June 9th 2021 two new bipartisan bills were proposed targeting issues of transparency and innovation in artificial intelligence in the US.

UK Calls for Regulations Surrounding AI on Same Level As Nuclear Power & Medicine

Regulators in the United Kingdom also called for regulations surrounding artificial intelligence development and deployment at a level comparable to that used for nuclear power plants or medicine.