AI Act rules and new transparency requirements that came into force on August 2

As AI grows increasingly capable and integrated into everyday life, the AI Act of the European Union helps ensure that AI is developed, deployed, and used safely, giving people and businesses across the EU greater confidence in the technology. 

The European Commission's AI Office, together with national authorities has begun enforcing the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Act while the new transparency rules are also taking effect, requiring certain AI systems to tell users when they are interacting with AI and when content has been generated or altered by it.

The Commission published today a first list of more than 180 organisations that have signed the Code of Practice on transparency of AI-generated content that operationalises the rules on transparency of AI-generated content. All providers of GPAI models must document certain information and provide it to competent authorities or downstream providers. They must also put in place a copyright policy and publish a sufficiently detailed summary of the content used to train their models.

The AI Office and national competent authorities will be supported in their enforcement work by the Scientific Panel, an expert advisory body made up of 60 independent AI experts led by Professor Alessandro Abate of the University of Oxford's Department of Computer Science as Lead Scientific Adviser. He is internationally recognised for his work on the safety, verification and control of AI-enabled systems, areas that lie at the heart of the AI Office's mandate. He previously conducted research at Stanford University and SRI International, a leading US research institute, and served as an Assistant Professor at TU Delft.

Responsibility for enforcing the transparency rules and prohibited practices is shared across three bodies. The AI Office enforces the rules for AI systems offered by the same provider as the underlying general-purpose AI model. It also covers systems integrated into very large online platforms or very large online search engines designated under the Digital Services Act.

To support enforcement, the AI Office has launched several tools for individuals and businesses. Natural and legal persons can use the Complaint Tool to report alleged infringements of the AI Act by providers of AI systems supervised by the AI Office. People working with providers of AI systems or general-purpose AI models can use the Whistleblower Tool to report possible violations of the Act securely. A dedicated channel is also available for downstream providers that build AI systems on general-purpose models and want to report alleged infringements by the providers of those models.

Cover image: instagram.com/digitaleu