What Does AI Look Like Within The Regulatory Landscape

The European Commission does not currently have any legislative tools or concrete standards for the regulation of the use and development of AI. At international and supranational levels, AI is regulated by means of a regulatory regime consisting of rules and standards, rather than by formal regulatory frameworks.

For example, regulatory regimes for AI rules that are applied on an application-specific basis can vary from a complete ban on specific AI technologies, to detailed technical standards that govern the composition of AI systems, various standards on interpretability, standards on the development process, and regulations on liability.    AI regulations would impact AI tools usage across various industries, and functions within them, in varying degrees. This proposed AI bill will impact other types of AI, for example, requiring the disclosure of lower-risk AI systems and banning certain categories of AI, but will probably lead to less trade and international regulatory attention.   

However, at present, Standards Australia has no specific regulatory framework to govern AI development and use, and therefore is reliant on existing legislation and standards until new standards are developed. Many reports indicate artificial intelligence (AI) legislation is in its early days, with very few legislative provisions and other regulatory tools to govern the development and use of AI.   

In the newly released report, Regulation of Artificial Intelligence, the Law Library of Congress examines the emerging regulatory and policy landscape surrounding AI, including guidelines, ethics codes, and actions taken by governments and their agencies, as well as statements from governments and their agencies, across jurisdictions worldwide.

To help organisations navigate an evolving landscape of proposed laws, regulations, and standards, the Responsible AI Institute (RAII) has mapped more than 200 AI-related international principles and policy documents, many of which are tracked in the AI Policy Observatory, based on countries.   

RAIIs implementation framework is grounded in globally agreed-upon principles, incorporating requirements from both established and proposed regulations, and tailored for specific industries, use cases, and settings. It may also inform finer-grained requirements, such as AI systems documentation demonstrating compliance with regulations. The RAII implementation framework explains existing laws, as well as considering proposed approaches and requirements from laws and standards currently in development.   

We have been researching how AI algorithms should be regulated, and how AI systems should be deployed, which are guided by key principles underlying the proposed regulatory framework and have helped companies throughout industry to start and grow AI-driven initiatives. Regulators, government agencies, and consumer advocates are all focused heavily on the need to address unintended consequences that can arise as algorithms and AI are developed and used.

While the regulatory, government policy, and legal landscape is far from settled, companies can take the initiative to manage risks associated with developing and using AI systems with thoughtful, responsible and ethical AI programs.