Exclusive-Southeast Asia eyes hands-off AI rules, defying EU ambitions
By Fanny Potkin and Supantha Mukherjee
SINGAPORE/STOCKHOLM (Reuters) — Southeast Asian countries are taking a business-friendly approach to artificial intelligence regulation in a setback to the European Union's push for globally harmonised rules that align with its own stringent framework.
Reuters reviewed a confidential draft of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations' (ASEAN) «guide to AI ethics and governance,» whose content has not previously been reported.
Three sources told Reuters the draft is being circulated to technology companies for feedback and is expected to be finalised at the end of January 2024 during the ASEAN Digital Ministers Meeting. Companies that have received it include Meta (NASDAQ:META), IBM (NYSE:IBM), and Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL).
EU officials earlier this year toured Asian countries in a bid to convince governments in the region to follow its lead in adopting new AI rules for tech firms that include disclosure of copyrighted and AI-generated content.
In contrast to the EU's AI Act, the ASEAN «AI guide» asks companies to take countries' cultural differences into consideration and doesn’t prescribe unacceptable risk categories, according to the current version reviewed. Like all ASEAN policies, it is voluntary and is meant to guide domestic regulations.
With almost 700 million people and over a thousand ethnic groups and cultures, Southeast Asian countries have widely divergent rules governing censorship, misinformation, public content and hate speech that would likely affect AI regulation. Thailand, for example, has laws against criticising its monarchy.
Technology executives say ASEAN's relatively hands-off approach is more business friendly as it limits the compliance burden in a
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