BRUSSELS – September 27, 2022 – BSA | The Software Alliance led a joint industry statement, released today, urging EU institutions to reject recent proposals to include General Purpose AI in the EU AI Act. Instead, the ten associations from across the EU call on policymakers to ensure the AI Act maintains a risk-based approach.

“Our organizations closely follow the work in the Council of the EU and Parliament on the EU’s Artificial Intelligence Act, a first-of-its-kind framework for artificial intelligence (AI) legislation globally. The businesses we represent have been supportive of the objectives of the AI Act, particularly the Commission’s goal to establish a ‘balanced and proportionate horizontal regulatory approach to AI that is limited to the minimum necessary requirements to address the risks and problems linked to AI, without unduly constraining or hindering technological development or otherwise disproportionately increasing the cost of placing AI solutions on the market,’” the statement reads. “As the EU Institutions put forward amendments to the Commission’s proposal, we would like to express concerns regarding the suggestion to include General Purpose AI and tools in the AI Act’s scope.”

The AI Act is built on a risk-based approach to encourage the development of trustworthy technology and empower digital growth. Yet the inclusion of General Purpose AI and tools in the scope of the Act would: overturn the Act’s risk-based approach; place virtually impossible and retroactive obligations on low-risk AI; severely impact open-source development in Europe; and undermine AI uptake, innovation, and digital transformation in Europe.

“For these reasons, we strongly urge EU Institutions to reject the recent proposals on General Purpose AI and ensure that the scope of the AI Act maintains its risk-based approach and a balanced allocation of responsibilities for the AI value chain, for a framework that protects fundamental rights, while addressing the challenges posed by high-risk AI use-cases and supports innovation.”

The link to the full statement and list of signatories is available here: https://www.bsa.org/files/policy-filings/09272022industrygpai.pdf