AI office opens to society-experts-firms on code for conduct

(ANSA) - ROME, AUG 2 - The European Commission is opening to civil society, academia and businesses in drafting a code of conduct for providers of general purpose AI systems (GPAI).
    The EU executive has decided to kick start public consultations to gather the opinions of more stakeholders that will be part of the upcoming process to draft a code of conduct for GPAI models, one of the pillars of the AI Act, the new European law on artificial intelligence that came into effect on August 1.
    A group of European lawmakers, including the MEP who drafted the AI Act, Brando Benifei, recently wrote to the Commission to request a more inclusive process to draft the code of conduct that is set to influence global AI governance.
    The group warned the Commission that it appeared to be inclined to initially involve only providers of the affected GPAI models, with the risk of "actually allowing them to define concrete practices on their own".
    However, in a turning point, the European AI Office, set up within the Commission, has now requested the contributions of a vast array of interested parties, including the academic world, independent experts, representatives of the sector, like providers of GPAI models or providers integrating such models within their AI systems, civil society organizations and public authorities.
    The consultation, open until September 10, will focus on critical sectors like transparency, copyright rules, the identification and evaluation of risk, the mitigation of risk and internal management of risk.
    The AI Act provides for an approach for GPAI on two levels, with models presenting systematic risks subjected to more stringent obligations. (ANSA).