The era of generative AI is dawning, but with it comes a great risk of misinformation and media manipulation. In this sense, content such as Deepfakes and images generated by AI have already reached the point where they deceive more than one, and it is for this reason (and many others) that the European Union is working on the AI Act ; a bill that seeks to introduce a common regulatory and legal framework for artificial intelligence.
With that in mind, one of the most recent regulations contemplates measures aimed at preventing disinformation on the Internet , especially that coming from Russia in these times of war.
The European Union seeks to combat AI-generated disinformation from Russia
To achieve this end, the European Union is requiring 44 technology giants such as Google, Meta, TikTok and Twitter to label all content generated by artificial intelligence that circulates on their respective social networks . Additionally, European regulators have asked companies to allocate more resources to verifying news written in minority languages of Eastern Europe.
Věra Jourová, Vice President of the European Commission in charge of Values and Transparency, added that the companies signing the agreement have a responsibility to create mechanisms capable of recognizing AI-generated content instantly. The ultimate goal is for the average user to be very clear that the content they are seeing on the screen is generated by algorithms based on generative AI and not by real people.
The Vice President of the European Commission for Values and Transparency highlighted the urgency of this project. In this sense, the authority stressed that the labeling system must be put into effect as soon as possible and in anticipation of what will be mandatory in Europe by the end of July.
Similarly, the European Commission has threatened Twitter with sanctions if it refuses to comply with new digital content laws. The latter comes as a response to the rebellion of the blue bird social network, since the company chaired by Elon Musk decided to abandon the EU voluntary code of conduct about two weeks ago; but that is a topic for another time.
