Explainer-What's next for the EU AI Act?

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By Supantha Mukherjee, Martin Coulter and Foo Yun Chee

STOCKHOLM/BRUSSELS/LONDON (Reuters) — European Union countries and lawmakers last week agreed a provisional deal for artificial intelligence rules aimed at establishing guardrails for the rapid development of AI and setting a global standard in technology regulation.

The long road to the EU AI Act started in early 2021, with multiple drafts passing between the bloc's three political arms. It will take many more months before it becomes law and two more years before its impact will be felt by industry.

WHAT WAS AGREED?

Very little is known of the actual text of the deal. The only public disclosure so far has been a press release with broad points of agreement. Government officials received an email with more details and officials are looking to publish a meatier dossier within weeks.

During 11 scheduled technical meetings that started on Tuesday, government officials and aides of lawmakers are now hashing out details such as the scope of the law and how it will work.

Those meetings will lead to the creation of basic principles of the AI law, known as «recitals». Recitals are written to make it clear what the essential objective of a given law is, making it easier to understand and enforce.

The European Union's data privacy law which took effect in 2018 contains 99 articles and 173 recitals.

Some officials expect a provisional document by February which is known as «four-column document.»

Those four columns are used to compare proposals from the groups involved with crafting the law — the EU Council, the Commission and the Parliament. Compromises reached during the provisional deal appear in the fourth column.

COULD THE DEAL BE DERAILED?

All EU legislations need to be