‘A global impact on the music industry’: MEPs pass landmark AI Act
European Parliament approves the EU's AI regulation act | Hopes of ensuring AI safety, transparency and copyright compliance | Act sets rules on the music industry concerning copyright-protected songs.
The European Parliament has today approved the EU's first-of-its-kind Act to regulate artificial intelligence (AI), which includes provisions for copyrighted music.
The Act received approval from EU lawmakers in June 2023 and after today's vote was endorsed by Members of the European Parliament, with 523 votes in favour, 46 against and 49 abstentions.
Internal Market Committee co-rapporteur Brando Benifei (S&D, Italy) said: “We finally have the world’s first binding law on AI, to reduce risks, create opportunities, combat discrimination, and bring transparency. Thanks to Parliament, unacceptable AI practices will be banned in Europe and the rights of workers and citizens will be protected."
The introduction of more stringent AI rules is expected to force companies behind tools such as ChatGPT to reveal the materials used to train their generative AI systems.
AI providers will also need to adhere to EU copyright regulations limiting the training of AI models on copyrighted works, and they must show their compliance.
Jonathan Coote, music and AI lawyer at Bray & Krais, said this rule appeared to apply even if the training was carried out in another more lenient jurisdiction.
“The EU AI Act will have a global impact on the music industry, which has previously raised alarm about the training of AI tools on copyright-protected songs,” said Coote.
The Act could also tighten restrictions on the use of the technology in biometric surveillance, emotion recognition, and predictive policing of AI systems.
It is now set for implementation after a two-year transition period, except for: bans on prohibited practises, which will apply six months after the entry into force date; codes of practise (nine months after entry into force); general-purpose AI rules including governance (12 months after entry into force); and obligations for high-risk systems (36 months).
Meanwhile, in the UK, efforts to manage the rollout and widespread use of generative AI tools have been criticised by rights holders.
OpenAI backlash
The landmark AI Act is thought to be the first of its kind in the world.
OpenAI, founder of generative AI tool ChatGPT, criticised the regulations in June—suggesting that it may have to halt operations in the EU if they come into force.
A key focus of the legislation is ensuring the safety, transparency, traceability, non-discrimination, and environmental friendliness of AI systems used in the EU, according to the European Parliament.
The parliament emphasised the need for human oversight to prevent harmful outcomes, advocating for people to control AI systems—rather than relying solely on automation.
The AI Act categorises AI products into three risk categories:
- Technologies posing an "unacceptable" risk, such as government social scoring systems, are banned.
- High-risk applications, such as CV-scanning tools for ranking job applicants, will face specific legal requirements.
- Applications not banned or labelled high-risk will remain largely unregulated, encouraging innovation with ethical considerations.
This regulatory framework sets a precedent for AI governance globally.
GDPR parallels
The EU AI Act shares parallels with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which was implemented more than five years ago.
Having been based on the GDPR’s fundamental framework, the Act includes principles of accountability and governance, but also adopts a risk-based approach and has an extraterritorial reach.
This can be compared to the impact of the GDPR creating a global gold standard of compliance, added Coote.
“The Act will require deep fakes, including voice clones, to be labelled as fakes, which will be welcomed by artists but won’t actually stop these deep fakes from being circulated,” he predicted.
Coote also suggested a separate digital representation right—proposed in the US—may be needed to stop deep fakes.
Read the EU AI Act adopted text.
