EU draft rules make data disclosure mandatory for AI companies

The European Union (EU) has released draft rules relating to its AI Act, which, among other things, require AI companies to disclose details regarding training of AI models and data on product testing.

Besides disclosing information related to training data and product testing, the draft rules require companies to engage experts from outside to carry out independent testing and risk assessment of tools used by AI companies.

The focus of the draft code is on compliance in the core areas like Transparency, Patent and copyright, Risk assessment and Mitigation of technical and governance risks.

The draft code prescribes guidelines for ensuring transparency in the development of General Purpose AI systems (GPAIs).

Accordingly, companies should release detailed information on GPAIs, including data used for training, testing and validation as also the use of the results of the testing.

Current GPAIs include models of OpenAI, Google, Meta, Anthropic, Mistral etc.

Risk assessment is intended as a safeguard against cyber attacks, nuclear disasters, product misuse as also misinformation risks stemming from powerful AI systems.

The new draft rules require AI companies to use only web crawlers “that read and follow instructions expressed in accordance with the Robot Exclusion Protocol.

AI companies are also required to set up a Safety and Security Framework (SSF) with detailed risk management policies so as to proactively assess and mitigate systemic risks from their GPAIs.

The draft rules form the basis of EU’s AI Act that went into force on 1 August 2024. The Act aims to erect guardrails whereby potential risks to individuals and the society in general are minimised while helping an open AI ecosystem flourish.

Failure to comply with the new rules would invite hefty fines under the EU's AI Act.

EU has sought stakeholders’ views on the new set of rules and proposes to give them a hearing before finalising the new rules, which is expected by May next year.