Artificial Intelligence Annual Review 2023

Welcome to our Artificial Intelligence (AI) Review for 2023. There is no doubt that we are living in unprecedented times when it comes to the advancement of technology generally, and AI in particular, which is a central part of the “fourth industrial revolution”. Indeed, since the launch of ChatGPT last year, AI has come to dominate our headlines. More than just a “meme”, however, the use and development of AI is of increasingly central importance to many of our clients’ commercial objectives.

Accordingly, anticipatory regulatory compliance and managing the risk of enforcement activities are likely to be key for our clients adopting AI. This is crucial, especially now that the EU has adopted its AI Act, a landmark achievement as the first AI regulation in the world.

While much remains uncertain in the world of AI governance at present, we take this opportunity to review recent trends and emerging themes in AI regulation in the EU and the wider world.

In this edition of the AI Review, we focus on:

• The EU’s recently-adopted AI Act. While the final text has not been published, the EU reached a high-level agreement on the core elements of the regulation in early December 2023, which is expected to come fully online in 2026. We also consider some related EU developments, such as model contractual clauses for the procurement of AI by public organisations
• We look at the emerging and contrasting regulatory approaches in the USA and UK
• Rowena Fitzgerald from our Fintech team reviews the likely impact of the AI Act on Fintech AI providers
• James Gallagher and Aisling Morrough review the WHO’s views on AI regulation
• In terms of the interaction between AI and intellectual property law, Gerard Kelly addresses the challenging question of whether a work generated entirely by an AI system should be eligible for copyright in the light of recent case law from the USA