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U.S. Tech Giants Groan After EU Passes First AI Regulation

Experts told CNBC that the AI Act will apply risk-based assessments on various artificial intelligence models.

The European Union’s new AI Act went into effect on Thursday and experts say it may reign in U.S. tech giants, according to CNBC. Originally proposed in 2020, the new law will assign risk assessments to various artificial intelligence models and require companies to keep documentation of their AI models’ datasets, activity logs and bias. The law would also ban models deemed “unacceptable” by regulators. Such models include predictive policing systems, social scoring, emotional recognition models in places of work or schools, according to CNBC. “The AI Act has implications that go far beyond the EU. It applies to any organization with any operation or impact in the EU, which means the AI Act will likely apply to you no matter where you’re located,” Charlie Thompson, a vice president at the software firm Appian, told CNBC. Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta has already restricted some AI products in the EU, though that decision was made before the AI Act went into effect. The law would hit companies with fines of $41 million or 7% of their annual revenues, which ever is higher, if they fail to comply.