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The European Union AI Act: Next steps and issues for building international cooperation in AI

BRUSSELS,BELGIUM-04212021 : Screen and desk during a press conference following the meeting about the promotion of artificial intelligence at the European Commission.

In April of 2021, the European Commission submitted its proposal for a European Union regulatory framework on artificial intelligence. The Artificial Intelligence Act represents the first attempt globally to horizontally regulate artificial intelligence (AI). The extraterritorial application of the AI Act and its likely demonstration effect (the so-called “Brussels effect”) for policymakers means that the AI Act will have a range of implications for the development of AI regulation globally, as well as efforts to build international cooperation on AI.

The following outlines next steps for the AI Act as it winds its way through the EU system before becoming law, the key issues in the AI Act that will receive the most attention, and how the AI Act may affect international cooperation in AI. This policy brief draws from discussions in the multistakeholder Forum on Cooperation in AI (FCAI), jointly led by Josh Meltzer, Cameron Kerry, and Andrea Renda, as well analysis originally published in the October 2021 FCAI report, “Strengthening International Cooperation on AI.”

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