EU's AI law will have ‘critical requirements’ around ethics, risk: Expert

Potential artificial intelligence regulations are now being sprung into action. The European Union is one of several global regulators seeking to create stricter laws for AI applications. Credo AI Founder and CEO Navrina Singh says the company aims to ease the compliance burden for companies big and small.

"There's a lot of critical requirements around transparency [and] risk management" in the EU's new AI law, Singh tells Yahoo Finance, insisting that compliance leaders are essential.

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Video Transcript

JOSH LIPTON: And global regulators are in a race to get a handle on artificial intelligence, but building laws that protect citizens from the risks while encouraging innovation is a hard balance to strike for sure. EU has taken the lead here, as it has on other tech focused regulation, creating an AI-specific law banning certain technology, like facial recognition and enforcing that generative AI systems like ChatGPT have to be reviewed before commercial release. The US is further behind, as lawmakers still seek input on regulation in the White House unveiled its blueprint on AI.

So with rules coming, what can you expect? Joining us now is Credo AI, Navrina Singh. Navrina, let's start there with regulation because the EU does have this proposed law to regulate AI. You're very involved in this sector. You know a lot of the players, Navrina. How are the companies thinking about navigating that new law?

NAVRINA SINGH: Thank you so much for having me, Josh. Credo AI is a leading authority on AI governance, risk management, and compliance. So since our founding, we've been extremely focused on making sure that AI is always in service of humanity. So as you can imagine, with these upcoming regulations-- and I do want to specify that EU AI Act is still not passed. It's being debated. And we are looking to the European Commission to pass that end of this year.

So with this impending law, you can imagine these companies right now are making sure that they have the foundational pieces in place, whether it is assessing risk management frameworks within the organizations or making sure that they have a handle on where they are actually using AI versus not using AI. So a long road ahead, but I'm excited to see the work that enterprises are already putting in place.

JOSH LIPTON: Navrina, one criticism I've read about the EU law-- and I'd love to get your take on it-- is that some are saying it kind of benefits those companies who have the money, the cash, the resources to cover the costs of compliance while disadvantaging the smaller players. Do you agree with that criticism? Is it fair?

NAVRINA SINGH: Josh, with any regulation, the narrative that we've always held in the marketplace is regulations and compliance is cumbersome. And I think this is the moment in time, especially for artificial intelligence, we all have an opportunity to change that narrative. With EU AI Act, yes, absolutely, there's a lot of critical requirements around transparency, risk management, making sure that you're actually registering AI applications in Europe.

But as you can imagine, companies like Credo AI are existing to actually make it less burdensome and change compliance to a competitive advantage, especially for SMPs and startups. And then that is a critical focus for us here at Credo AI because in this age of artificial intelligence, companies that embrace governance are going to actually emerge as leaders.