Recently the European Commission warned Microsoft that it would not tolerate the integration of risky AI features into Bing search engine. This can be seen as yet another indication that the issue of generative AI and its threat to the democratic processes is becoming a global concern, as just recently the European Commission has issued a formal complaint against Microsoft for failing to provide them with clear answers regarding the dangers that AI can potentially bring to the upcoming elections when being integrated into the Microsoft’s search engine Bing.
The Commission’s threat comes exactly four weeks to the much-anticipated European Parliament elections set for June 2019. Claiming that there is a risk of deep fakes and AI automated services manipulation that may influence voters, the EU’s executive body provided Microsoft until 27 May with a chance to disclose proper information about risks connected to generative AI functions in Bing.
The growing tensions between the tech giant and the EU government institutions regulating it due to the use and development of generative AI models. Since these advanced systems are designed and developed to be highly advanced, issues of abuse and negative side effects are the current key issues that dominate policy discussions across the globe.
“The Commission said on Friday that it is worried about the dissemination of deep fakes and automated manipulation of services that can mislead voters,” a spokesperson for the EU body stated, underscoring the gravity of the situation.
The demand for transparency comes from The Commission after Microsoft declined to respond to a notice of information request that was issued on March 14. If Microsoft does not comply with the May 27 mandate, the EU has said it will not only issue sanctions, such as fines of up to 1% of Bing’s total annual revenue and up to 5% of daily revenue but will also apply the sanctions periodically.
In addition, the Commission has expressed its intention to impose supplementary fines if Microsoft fails to provide truthful or complete information concerning potential harm from its AI-powered search engine.
This increase in regulatory action is in part due to the recent EU Digital Services Act which came into effect last year. It imposes further obligations on tech companies to address illegal and harmful content on their platforms, which also speaks to the overall rise of anxiety over digital technologies’ role in society.
One of the specific risks posed by the emergence of generative AI is to the integrity of electoral processes identified by the Commission as being at possible risk due to generative AI’s capability of generating highly realistic Synthetic Media, including Text, Images, and Videos.
With the European Parliament elections around the corner, the need to secure the principled development and application of AI technologies has never been higher. The Commission’s demand for Microsoft to provide all the information it has about the usage of its AI systems or face legal action is a wake-up call to all of us to play our part by being more open and accountable and by being more proactive in managing these immensely powerful technologies.
As for Microsoft, it still has not made any official statements regarding its response to the demands of the Commission. Nonetheless, the decisions the company makes in the coming days will play a crucial role in determining how other large tech companies should approach the growing number of legal rules that govern the use of the technology behind generative AI.
The example of the EU’s struggle against Microsoft demonstrates that the world community should overcome the temptation to engage in political manipulation with these technologies and focus instead on establishing legal boundaries for their use to ensure the development of innovation and democratic public institutions.