EU tech chief Margrethe Vestager calls for voluntary AI code of conduct within months

The United States and European Union should push the artificial intelligence (AI) industry to adopt a voluntary code of conduct within months to provide safeguards while new laws are developed, EU tech chief Margrethe Vestager said on Wednesday.

The European Union’s AI Act, with rules on facial recognition and biometric surveillance, could be the world’s first comprehensive legislation governing the technology, but is still going through the legislative process.

“In the best of cases it will take effect in two and a half to three years time. That is obviously way too late,” Vestager told reporters before a meeting of the joint EU-U.S Trade and Technology Council in Sweden. “We need to act now.”