The Artificial Intelligence Act, adopted by the European Union
last month, has raised some interesting questions for me about the
symbiotic relationship between innovation and regulation.
There are obviously a host of very sensible measures within the
Act; the efforts to ensure safety, security, and ethical behaviour
should be welcomed at a time when the concept of "trust"
in AI is still being debated.
My area of concern centres more on the disparity that I see in
the EU's dominant focus on regulation and governance rather
than the innovation of the technology itself.
The UK and EU appear to be in the midst of a "regulatory
one-upmanship" battle, with the Act's approval another
notable milestone in that. Yet this perhaps distracts us from the
huge promise within these territories – France has emerged as
a culturally inventive hub for AI, while the UK boasts world-class
tech-focused universities packed with intellectual power.
