Regulators In The UK Will Research The Impact Of Artificial Intelligence, Including ChatGPT

The United Kingdom has announced that it will begin researching the impact of artificial intelligence on consumers. (photo: dock. pexels)

JAKARTA - On Thursday, May 4, competition regulators from the United Kingdom announced that it will begin researching the impact of artificial intelligence on consumers, businesses and the economy as well as whether new controls on technologies such as OpenAI's ChatGPT.

Although research on artificial intelligence has been going on for years, the sudden popularity of generative artificial intelligence applications such as ChatGPT and Midjourney has highlighted technologies that can change the way businesses and society operate.

Governments around the world are currently trying to find a balance where they can assess and curb some of the negative consequences that may occur as a result of artificial intelligence without hindering innovation.

The United Kingdom in March chose to share regulatory responsibility for artificial intelligence between bodies that oversee human rights, health and safety, and competition, rather than creating new bodies dedicated to the technology.

The Competition and Market Authority (CMA) said it would start working by looking for ways to understand how basic models that use large amounts of data without labels develop, and assess how these technologies could be used in the future to complete several tasks.

CMA CEO Sarah Cardell said in a statement that artificial intelligence has emerged into public awareness and is growing rapidly.

"Crucial that the potential benefits of this transformative technology can be easily accessed by UK businesses and consumers while people remain protected from problems such as false or misleading information," he said.

UK reviews reflect ongoing investigations around the world, from Beijing to Brussels and Washington.

The United States is seeking possible rules to regulate technology and digital ministers of the G7 leading countries agreed last month to adopt regulations based on risks to artificial intelligence that will also maintain an open environment for the development of such technology.

Italy, a G7 member, took the ChatGPT offline last month to investigate possible breaches of its personal data rules. Although Italy later lifted the ban, the move inspired other European privacy regulators to launch an investigation.

Verity Egerton-D Hoyle's lawyers at Linklaters said the review would give UK competition regulators the opportunity to join a debate on artificial intelligence regulation, after making news worldwide last week while blocking Microsoft's 69 billion US dollars (IDR 1,013 trillion) takeover over Activision Blizzard.

"EU's fully applicable Digital Markets Act this week does not include genrative AI and CMA without hesitation seeing this as an opportunity to lead a global debate on the matter - along with the US FTC already examining the area," he said.