The Commission announced today over a hundred companies that are the first signatories of the EU artificial intelligence (AI) Pact and its voluntary pledges. The signatories include multinational corporations and European small and medium enterprises (SMEs) from diverse sectors, including IT, telecoms, healthcare, banking, automotive, and aeronautics. The Pact supports industry's voluntary commitments to start applying the principles of the AI Act ahead of its entry into application and enhances engagement between the EU AI Office and all relevant stakeholders, including industry, civil society and academia.
The EU AI Pact voluntary pledges call on participating companies to commit to at least three core actions:
- AI governance strategy to foster the uptake of AI in the organisation and work towards future compliance with the AI Act.
- High-risk AI systems mapping: Identifying AI systems likely to be categorised as high-risk under the AI Act
- Promoting AI literacy and awareness among staff, ensuring ethical and responsible AI development.
In addition to these core commitments, more than half of the signatories committed to additional pledges, including ensuring human oversight, mitigating risks, and transparently labelling certain types of AI-generated content, such as deepfakes. Companies are welcome to join the AI Pact and commit to the core and the additional pledges at any moment until the AI Act fully applies.
Boosting EU leadership in AI innovation
Alongside the efforts to help companies implement the AI Act in anticipation of the legal deadline, the Commission is taking action to boost EU innovation in AI. The AI Factories initiative of 10 September 2024 will provide start-ups and industry with a one-stop-shop to innovate and develop AI, including data, talent and computing power. The AI Factories will also propel the development and validation of AI industrial and scientific applications in key European sectors such as healthcare, energy, automotive and transport, defence and aerospace, robotics and manufacturing, clean and agritech.
AI Factories are a highlight of the Commission's AI innovation package presented in January 2024, together with venture capital and equity support measures, the deployment of Common European Data Spaces, the 'GenAI4EU' initiative, and the Large AI Grand Challenge giving start-ups financial support and access to EU's supercomputers, among other measures. The Commission will also set up a European AI Research Council to exploit the potential of data, and the Apply AI Strategy to boost new industrial uses of AI.
Background
The AI Act entered into force on August 1, 2024. Some provisions of the AI Act are already fully applicable. The entire AI Act will be fully applicable 2 years following its entry into force, with some exceptions: prohibitions will take effect after six months, the governance rules and the obligations for general-purpose AI models become applicable after 12 months and the rules for AI systems embedded into regulated products will apply after 36 months.
