Louder Calls for AI Regulation in Europe

The majority of Europeans want government restrictions on artificial intelligence to mitigate the impact of technology on job security, says a major new study from the Spanish university IE. The study shows that from a sample of 3,000 Europeans, 68 percent want their governments to introduce rules that would protect jobs from the rising level of automation brought by AI. This percentage has increased by 18 percent compared to the number of people who responded similarly to a similar survey published by IE University in 2022.

Last year, 58 percent of people responded to the IE University study saying they believe that artificial intelligence should be regulated.

The most common fear is the possibility of job loss – says Ikhlaq Sidhu, Dean of the IE School of SciTech at IE University.

Standing out from the rest of Europe, Estonia is the only country where this review has decreased, by 23 percent compared to last year. In Estonia, only 35 percent of the population wants their government to impose restrictions on artificial intelligence.

Overall, however, the majority of people in Europe are in favor of their governments regulating artificial intelligence to prevent the risk of job loss.

Public sentiment is growing towards the acceptance of regulations for artificial intelligence, especially due to the recent introduction of generative AI products such as ChatGPT and others – said Sidhu.

Generated or Original

In the European Union, a law known as the Artificial Intelligence Act would introduce a risk-based approach to managing artificial intelligence, applying different levels of risk to different applications of the technology. Meanwhile, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak plans to hold a security summit on artificial intelligence at Bletchley Park, the home of the codebreakers who cracked the code that helped end World War II. Sunak, who is facing a multitude of political challenges at home, has presented Britain as a ‘geographical home’ for regulating the safety of artificial intelligence, praising the country’s legacy in science and technology.

Worryingly, the majority of Europeans say they would not be confident in distinguishing AI-generated content from original content, according to IE University, and only 27 percent of Europeans believe they could spot fake AI-generated content.

Older citizens in Europe expressed a higher degree of doubt in their ability to determine authentic AI-generated content, with 52 percent saying they would not feel confident doing so.