Google, OpenAI, Amazon and Telefónica among more than 100 companies committed to the European Union’s AI pact

The European Commission has announced the accession of more than a hundred companies to the European Union (EU) Pact on Artificial Intelligence (AI), based on the principles of the AI ​​Law, among which are Google, OpenAI, Amazon and Telefónica who have signed their commitment to promote reliable and secure AI development.

The EU AI Law It came into force in August this year, becoming the first legislation seeking to regulate AI systems to guarantee the security and fundamental rights of EU citizens, given the risks posed by this technology.

Thus, European legislation, world pioneersearch regulate their use under a uniform legal frameworkthereby facilitating the marketing and circulation of AI-based products and systems, without forgetting the cybersecurity and technological development under an ethical approach.

All this, with the aim of keeping the human being at the center and to guarantee “a high level of protection of health, safety and fundamental rights enshrined in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, including democracy, the rule of law and environmental protection.”

In this framework, in accordance with the objectives of this law, the European Commission has has promoted an AI pact with which it intends to “support the voluntary commitments of the industry to begin to apply the principles of the AI ​​Law”as well as enhancing collaboration between the EU AI Office and all stakeholders, such as business, industry, civil society and academia.

In fact, as announced in a statement on its website this Thursday, More than one hundred companies have already signed this pactincluding multinational corporations and small and medium-sized enterprises various sectorssuch as IT, telecommunications, healthcare, banking, automotive and aeronautics.

Among these companies, some stand out: technological companies such as Google, OpenAI, Amazon and even the company Spanish Telefonica. Also, as shown in the list shared by the European Commission, companies such as Qualcomm, IBM, Nokia, Vodafone, Orange y Airbusamong others.

In the case of OpenAI, the Sandro Gianella, Head of Policy and Partnerships for Europe and the Middle East at OpenAIhas expressed, in statements to Europa Press, the importance that it has for the company be part of the Pact and to align its mission of “Provide secure, cutting-edge technologies that benefit everyone.”

“As we enter an era of AI-driven growth, there is huge potential for AI to accelerate innovation and productivity across Europe,” Gianella said, while stressing that the Pact on Artificial Intelligence of the EU “focuses on AI governance, adoption and literacy and identifies priorities to ensure that the benefits of this technology are widely distributed.”

APPLE AND META OUT OF THE DEAL

However, among the more than one hundred companies that have shared their collaboration in this pact, Some of the big tech companies are missing with more presence currently, as is the case of X (antigua Twitter), Meta o Apple.

It should be noted that, in the Meta casethe company has already mentioned on previous occasions its reluctance to launch its new AI models in the European Union, due to “the unpredictable nature” of the regulatory environment -in reference to the AI ​​Law and the requirements of the current General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

The same thing has happened with Apple which, as it became known in June, decided to delay the arrival of its ecosystem of AI-powered tools, Apple Intelligence, in the European Union, due to “regulatory uncertainties” related to the Digital Markets Act (DMA). Although Apple Intelligence will be released soon with its iOS 18.1 operating system update, these features will not be available to European users.

EU AI PACT COMMITMENTS

With all this, the European Commission has detailed that, among the commitments included in the EU AI Pact, participating companies are urged to commit to carrying out, at least three fundamental actions.

One of these actions is Adopting AI governance strategywhich seeks to promote the adoption of this technology in the organization with the objective of complying with the AI ​​Law. Along these lines, they have also committed to carrying out a mapping high-risk AI systems.

That is, identifying AI systems that, according to the guidelines of the AI ​​Law, are likely to be classified as high risk, in order to avoid their use or adapt them to the possibilities of the framework of the law.

Finally, the third fundamental action is Promote AI literacy and awareness among the staff of companies, thus ensuring that developers work on ethical technology and act responsibly.

In addition to these commitments, the European Commission has indicated that the signatory companies have also taken responsibility for complying other additional commitments, how is ensure human supervision, mitigate the risks of this technology and Transparently label AI-generated contentsuch as ‘deepfakes’ or AI-generated images and videos.

All these actions are based on efforts that will help companies implement the AI ​​Law “before the legal deadline is met”, which have six months after the effective date to comply with all prohibitions, twelve months to comply with governance rules and obligations for general purpose AI models, and 36 months for AI systems embedded in regulated products.