Europe was set to lead the world on AI regulation. But can leaders reach a deal?

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The generative AI boom has sent governments worldwide scrambling to regulate the emerging technology

LONDON — The generative AI boom has sent governments worldwide scrambling to regulate the emerging technology, but it also has raised the risk of upending a European Union push to approve the world’s first comprehensive artificial intelligence rules.

The 27-nation bloc’s Artificial Intelligence Act has been hailed as a pioneering rulebook. But with time running out, it's uncertain if the EU's three branches of government can thrash out a deal Wednesday in what officials hope is a final round of closed-door talks.

Europe's yearslong efforts to draw up AI guardrails have been bogged down by the recent emergence of generative AI systems like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which have dazzled the world with their ability to produce human-like work but raised fears about the risks they pose.

Those concerns have driven the U.S., U.K., China and global coalitions like the Group of 7 major democracies into the race to regulate the rapidly developing technology, though they're still catching up to Europe.

Besides regulating generative AI, EU negotiators need to resolve a long list of other thorny issues, such as a full ban on police use of facial recognition systems, which have stirred privacy concerns.

Chances of clinching a political agreement between EU lawmakers, representatives from member states and executive commissioners “are pretty high partly because all the negotiators want a political win" on a flagship legislative effort, said Kris Shrishak, a senior fellow specializing in AI governance at the Irish Council for Civil Liberties.

“But the issues on the table are significant and critical, so we can’t rule out the possibility of not