AI: Wessing advocates for EU-wide AI rules

“Banning is absolutely the wrong way,” says Digital Minister Wessing, as he looks at Italy’s handling of ChatGPT. Instead, the EU should quickly issue rules for apps using AI.

Digital Minister Volker Wessing has once again spoken out in favor of EU-wide rules for artificial intelligence (AI) applications. He told Bild am Sonntag that the European Union must react quickly to the fact that artificial intelligence has reached everyday life and will radically change people’s lives. “We have to act wisely now and regulate AI sensibly before it’s too late. It shouldn’t take years again,” said the FDP politician.

He called for the rapid creation of a legal framework for the use of AI, “ensuring that this new technology can only be used if it adheres to European values ​​such as democracy, transparency and neutrality. AI systems must not manipulate us, they have to support us.”

Discussion about ChatGPT handling

ChatGPT, Google’s Bard competitor and software that can generate images based on text descriptions, is causing a stir right now. At the same time, there are concerns that such AI-based technology could be misused, for example to spread false information.

Wissing cautioned against overreacting and named Italy as a cautionary example, where ChatGPT has been temporarily banned due to data protection concerns, among other things. “If all countries in Europe follow this example, we will not develop any applications of artificial intelligence,” he said. And then we will only have to deal with the Chinese and American systems in the future. The danger is that the apparatus of totalitarian power will misuse AI for their own purposes. “We must not give way to them,” the minister said. “We need European AI applications that are built on a trustworthy legal basis.”

“Banning is absolutely the wrong way to go,” Wessing said. ChatGPT formulates its scripts by estimating the probability that a sentence will persist word for word. One consequence of this procedure is that in addition to correct information, it also invents information that is not entirely correct – but no difference can be recognized to the user.