EU officials want all AI-generated content to be labeled

The European Commission vice president said that companies deploying generative AI tools with the potential to spread disinformation should be publicly labeled.

Officials in the European Union have discussed additional measures that would make artificial intelligence (AI) tools, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, more transparent to the public.

On June 5, Vera Jourova, the European Commission’s vice president for values and transparency, told the media that companies deploying generative AI tools with the “potential to generate disinformation” should place labels on their content as an effort to combat “fake news.”

“Signatories who have services with a potential to disseminate AI generated disinformation should, in turn, put in place technology to recognize such content and clearly label this to users.”

Jourova also referenced companies that integrate generative AI into their services — such as Microsoft’s Bing Chat and Google’s Bard — as needing to create “safeguards” to prevent malicious actors from utilizing them for disinformation purposes.

In 2018 the EU created its “Code of Practice on Disinformation,” which acts as both an agreement and a tool for players in the tech industry on self-regulatory standards to combat disinformation.

Already major tech companies including Google and Microsoft, along with Meta Platforms have signed into the EU Code of Practice. Jourova said those companies and others should report on new safeguards pertaining to AI this upcoming July.

She also highlighted that a week prior to her latest press conference, Twitter quit the Code and should anticipate more scrutiny from regulators.

“By leaving the Code, Twitter has attracted a lot of attention and its actions and compliance with EU law will be scrutinized vigorously and urgently.”

These statements from the deputy head come as the EU prepares its forthcoming EU AI Act, which will be a comprehensive set of guidelines for the public use of AI and the companies deploying it.

Despite the official laws scheduled to take effect within the next two to three years, European officials have urged to create a voluntary code of conduct for generative AI developers in the meantime.

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