The Digital Humanism Initiative has published a new public statement on the EU AI Act.

As you know, the long-discussed EU AI Act to regulate Artificial Intelligence using a risk-based approach is currently in the so-called trilogue process between the European Commission, the European Parliament and the 27 Member States. This is the final and most crucial phase. For several reasons it has to be finished before the end of the year, otherwise the window of opportunity has passed. However, there is currently the risk that essential parts of the Act (those dealing with generative AI) are questioned by some member states. The result would be self-regulation by a small number of large IT companies.

For this reason, the Digital Humanism Initiative asks for your support and signature in the following public statement.

Please go to https://dighum.org/statement-on-ai-act/, sign and also distribute it as widely as possible.

A Public Statement on the EU AI Act

Recent Artificial Intelligence developments have showcased both the potential for AI applications that are beneficial to society and, simultaneously, the need to provide a safety shield for citizens and democracy from fake information, manipulative algorithms, cybercrime and much more.

The central aim of the EU AI Act is to provide such a safety shield in the form of an enforceable regulation in the same spirit as prior regulations that have ensured safer food, safer medicine and safer airplanes.

The AI Act finds now itself at crossroads as the so-called trilogue among the European Commission, the European Parliament and the 27 Member States has entered its final and most crucial stage. There is a clear danger that (far beyond reasonable, negotiable modifications) critical parts of the AI Act which provide guardrails for the use of powerful AI (foundation) models are rendered totally unenforceable at the insistence of some Member States. This would leave self-regulation by a small number of big powerful companies as the only alternative.

Self-regulation failed democratic societies when social media were nascent and will fail again in the case of AI and for the same reasons. The clock is ticking and the window of opportunity for adoption of an effective AI Act is closing.

Europe must not miss this opportunity for its own sake and for the sake of the entire world.

We, the signatories of this statement, support the EU AI Act as proposed by the European Commission and supported by the European Parliament.

Sign the Statement

Support Now You can sign the statement on the Website of the Digital Humanism Initiative.