European Economic
and Social Committee
General-purpose AI: way forward after the AI Act
Background
The EU AI Act entered into force in August 2024, marking the first comprehensive regulation concerning artificial intelligence in the world. It classifies AI systems based on their risk levels and sets specific obligations for each category.
General-purpose AI (GPAI) refers to AI models that are capable of performing a wide variety of tasks across different domains, rather than being specialised for a single application. These models are trained on large datasets and possess the flexibility to be integrated into various downstream systems or applications, making them highly versatile. They can handle tasks they were not explicitly trained for, showing significant adaptability. Examples of GPAI include foundation models and large language models (LLMs), which can perform tasks ranging from text generation to translation, summarisation, or answering questions. GPAI can function across different sectors and industries, making it applicable in business-to-business (B2B) or business-to-government (B2G) contexts, such as the Internet of Things.
The AI Act sets out the obligations applicable to GPAI models, including governance models and codes of practice. The EU Member States will have to comply with these obligations by August 2025, with the support of the European Commission and the AI Office, which will play a crucial role in enforcing the AI Act's provisions.
In the exploratory opinion, requested by both the European Commission and the Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the EU, the EESC stresses the importance of producing a competitive ‘AI made in Europe’ that respects EU core values but that also encourages competitiveness and innovation within European companies.
Key points:
In its opinion, the EESC:
- argues that, to be competitive in the area of general-purpose AI, Europe must invest in secure connectivity and resilient backbone infrastructure as well as in a resilient supply chain to ensure that the effects of generative AI can be harnessed for European actors and aligned with European values and needs;
- recommends organising dialogues with stakeholders, including the social partners, about codes of practice in workplaces and workers' rights in the context of GPAI;
- stresses that coordinated European and national investment in innovation and mobilisation of the tools of competition policy are needed in order to combat a market concentration dominated by large, often non-European, digital companies and to help develop EU value chains and value creation in AI.
The text of the draft opinion can be found here.
Additional information
Section: Single Market, Production and Consumption
Opinion number: INT/1055
Opinion type: Exploratory opinion
Rapporteur: Sandra Parthie
Reference: Referrals, European Commission and Hungarian Presidency of the Council
Date of adoption by section: 1/10/2024
Result of the vote: 62 in favour/0 against/1 abstention
Date of adoption in plenary: 23/10/2024
Result of the vote: 186 in favour/ 2 against/ 2 abstentions
Contacts:
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Email: laurairena.lui@eesc.europa.eu
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