Is Europe's Stance On Regulating AI An Opportunity For Malta?

After much anticipation, on Wednesday the European Commission published its proposal for a regulation aimed at harmonising the regulation of Artificial Intelligence throughout the European Union. The anticipation was heightened after some form of draft of the proposal was leaked a few days earlier.

The proposed regulation has drawn mixed reactions from across the globe since the jurisdictional scope will affect companies producing or using AI systems even outside of the EU if such systems, or their outputs, are to be used in the EU. This is not an unknown way of the EU's working, since it adopted a similar extra-EU reach with respect to data protection through the GDPR.

The proposed regulation aims at instilling trust in the use of AI systems. It sets out to do this by adopting a risk-based approach with respect to the particular uses of AI systems. Depending on the risks associated with the intended use of an AI system, that AI system may require certification,