What Does the European Union’s AI Act Mean for Us All? 🌍
By Polly Barnfield OBE, CEO of Maybe*
The European Union’s new artificial intelligence (AI) regulations have left many businesses questioning their impact. Understanding these regulations is vital for compliance and business success, especially as AI becomes integral to customer interactions. At Maybe*, we believe it’s crucial to anticipate these changes, particularly if you plan to expand into the EU.
Uncertainty and Compliance Challenges
Your Role in AI Usage
Provider, Deployer, Distributor, or Importer?
Most businesses use AI as deployers, integrating third-party AI tools to interact with customers. Your role defines your compliance responsibilities.
Risk Classification
AI tools are categorised into banned, high-risk, limited-risk, or general-purpose. You must audit each tool to determine:
Is the AI banned?
Does it fall under high-risk?
Is it involved in critical safety components or interacts with users, generates synthetic content, performs emotion recognition, biometric classification, or creates deepfakes?
Retail-focused AI tools, such as customer service chatbots, might be classified as high-risk.
The Cost and Risk of Non-Compliance
Your Obligations
Upon classifying your AI tools, various compliance steps are necessary:
Documentation: Show the rationale and legality of AI use, covering data privacy, intellectual property, and bias issues.
Transparency: Similar to GDPR, be transparent with customers about AI use.
High-risk AI Compliance:
Adhere strictly to supplier guidelines.
Continuous monitoring and human oversight.
Ensure input data relevance.
Maintain logs for six months.
Report malfunctions or hazards to providers and authorities immediately.
Integrate Compliance with GDPR
The EU AI Act's integration with GDPR frameworks, particularly in profiling used in retail marketing, means fines for non-compliance can be severe (up to €35 million or 7% of turnover), higher than GDPR penalties. Proactive compliance planning is crucial not only to avoid financial risks but also to avoid reputational damage. Ethical AI utilisation and transparency underscore the Act.
Proactive Compliance Strategy
Act Now. The Act’s provisions take full effect in 36 months. Preparation should start now to ensure readiness and avoid a last-minute rush similar to that experienced with GDPR compliance.
Need Help? For more direction on navigating the EU AI regulations, contact Hope and May, our global data practitioners.
Where to get help
Contact: Mark Burnett, CEO of Hope and May
Commitment: At Maybe*, we’re dedicated to helping businesses thrive with secure and efficient AI solutions while ensuring compliance and delivering extraordinary customer experiences.
Key Points
Understand your AI role and AI tool risk levels.
Document AI usage compliance.
Align AI practices with GDPR.
Begin preparation now for upcoming regulations.
Seek expert help for seamless integration and compliance.
Your business should face these challenges head-on, ensuring compliance and robust, ethical AI practices that earn customer trust. At Maybe*, we provide the framework to enable you to do that.
Maybe* is an AI-powered platform enabling businesses to integrate their proprietary data and content with Generative AI securely. This banishes repetitive tasks and enables teams to work smarter.
