European Commission’s AI Pact Gains Momentum
Over a hundred companies, including prominent names like Google, Microsoft, Open AI, and Amazon, have joined a voluntary pact initiated by the European Commission. The pact aims to promote the development of artificial intelligence (AI) that adheres to ethical principles.
The European Commission announced that the pact supports the industry’s voluntary commitments to apply the principles of the AI Law before its entry into force. This move reinforces the engagement between the EU AI Office and relevant stakeholders, including industry, civil society, and academia.
However, notable technology companies like X (formerly Twitter), Meta, and Apple have not signed the pact. In fact, the latter two have halted the introduction of their AI systems into the European market, citing concerns about the new laws regulating the sector.
Thomas Regnier, EC Internal Market Spokesperson, emphasized that the pact is a voluntary instrument and that the European Commission invites all companies to participate. He acknowledged that the number of signatories will increase in the future, but ultimately, the decision to participate lies with the private companies.
Objectives of the Pact
The European Commission has promoted the pact to encourage the ethical and responsible development of AI. The pact helps companies adapt to the EU artificial intelligence law, which came into force last August but will be fully deployed by 2026.
Participating companies are expected to commit to at least three fundamental actions:
- Develop an AI governance strategy to encourage the adoption of AI within the organization and work towards future compliance with the AI Act.
- Identify AI systems that may be classified as high risk under the Act.
- Promote AI literacy and awareness among staff, ensuring the ethical and responsible development of AI.
In addition to these fundamental commitments, over half of the signatories have pledged to assume additional commitments, such as ensuring human oversight, mitigating risks, and transparently labeling certain types of AI-generated content, like deepfakes.
Signatories and Industrial Initiative
Among the signatories are companies like Qualcomm, IBM, Telefónica, Vodafone, Orange, Nokia, Mastercard, Airbus, and Booking, among others.
The European Commission has also promoted an industrial initiative for companies to develop their AI systems.
AI Law
The pact will be applied in parallel to the gradual rollout of the AI law, which allows or prohibits the use of technology depending on the risk it poses to people. The law will come into force in phases.
Starting in February next year, biometric categorization AI systems will be prohibited due to political, religious, philosophical beliefs, or racial and sexual orientation.
Systems that rate people based on their behavior or personal characteristics, as well as artificial intelligence capable of manipulating human behavior, will also be prohibited. Additionally, systems to expand or create facial databases captured indiscriminately through the Internet or audiovisual recordings will be banned.
In August 2025, the transparency criteria that generative AI systems must meet will come into force.