The Association of Southeast Asian Nations has agreed to guidance regulating the use of artificial intelligence. Could more competitive standards of practice be set elsewhere, such as in the European Union?
Southeast Asia has released its long-awaited Artificial Intelligence (AI) Governance and Ethics Guidelines. The guidelines are an voluntary, light-touch vision for how governments can profit economically from advances in this new technology while curbing its worst aspects.
The 10 members of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) The guidelines, which were first drafted last year, were agreed at the 4th ASEAN Digital Ministers’ Meeting held in Singapore earlier this month.
Southeast Asia’s more pro-business approach to AI regulation could cause unrest within the European Union. The bloc is lobbying the rest of the world to follow its own stricter proposed framework, the AI Act, which Brussels is calling the world’s first comprehensive AI law.
Many companies oppose Brussels bill
Last summer, EU officials were sent to more than a dozen Asian countries, including Singapore and the Philippines, to persuade governments to support stricter AI rules. The rules will require companies to disclose whether they have used AI-generated content and provide safeguards against illegal content. Last year, Reuters reported that violations of the rules would be subject to financial penalties.
The City of Brussels is particularly concerned about the potential damage that AI-generated content could cause to democracy and human rights, as well as social harm such as the spread of fake sexually explicit images. There is.
Ironically, EU member states formally endorsed the AI Act at the same February 2nd meeting where ASEAN released its guidelines. The EU bill is due to go to a final vote in the European Parliament in March or April and could be ratified by the summer.
Many in the EU had hoped that ASEAN would move closer to AI regulation, just as Brussels’ data protection law served as a template for ASEAN’s rules.
Much of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, passed in 2016 to govern information privacy and human rights, has been copied into laws passed by Southeast Asian countries. Last June, the EU and ASEAN issued joint guidelines on how international companies can comply with cross-border transfers of personal data.
However, Brussels’ AI bill has faced backlash from the business community. Around 160 executives signed a letter in June 2023 warning that the bill could put Europe’s competitiveness, investment and innovation at risk.
The importance of avoiding overregulation
ASEAN countries have so far taken a voluntary and moderate approach, wary of the impact on business confidence and aware that differences in political systems make it difficult to find consensus among countries on issues such as censorship. ing.
The bloc’s member states, which include liberal democracies as well as one-party communist states, have different censorship and intellectual property laws and how potentially harmful AI-generated content is managed. Analysts say it is difficult to find common ground.
They also range from developed countries with established and thriving technology sectors, such as Singapore, to countries where access to the internet is relatively new to most societies and where digital literacy is low.
Simon Chesterman, an AI expert at the National University of Singapore, said the world’s small and developing regions want to avoid over-regulation, which he said could “stifle innovation or push it elsewhere.” There is a possibility that it will happen.”
Singapore was the first Southeast Asian country to launch a national AI strategy in 2019, and announced its National AI Strategy 2.0 in December last year. In the same month, the Indonesian government announced that it would soon propose its own national AI law.
According to ASEAN’s new guidelines, governments in the region will need to increase investment in research and development while developing AI talent and improving workforce skills.
The 87-page “ASEAN Guide on AI Governance and Ethics,” released on February 2, states that “AI systems need to be treated differently from other software systems due to their unique characteristics and risks.” ” is stated.
“Given the potentially significant impact of AI on organizations and individuals in ASEAN, it is important that AI decision-making is consistent with national and corporate values, as well as broader ethical and social norms. Yes,” the report added.
Kang Min Yen, an associate professor at the National University of Singapore’s School of Computing, said Southeast Asia’s regulations were “less specific” than “loose” than the EU’s proposed law.
“Southeast Asia is a more diverse region in terms of digital ecosystem compared to the relatively mature EU,” he added.
“In emerging economies and infrastructure, implementing and overseeing strict regulations can be a significant burden for ASEAN governments, start-ups and multinationals.”
Josh Lee, Asia Pacific Managing Director at the Future of Privacy Forum, agrees. Most governments in Southeast Asia have adopted an “incremental and soft approach to AI regulation, focusing on voluntary guidelines and codes of conduct rather than hard laws.”
However, Lee pointed out that this may not necessarily be the case in the future. He said he did not rule out the possibility of ASEAN member states enacting comprehensive domestic AI regulations similar to the EU’s AI law.
In December 2023, the Indonesian government announced plans to enact a comprehensive national AI law at some point in the future, but there remains the possibility that regional governments could agree on a more stringent and legally binding regulatory framework. There is.
Philippine Congress Speaker Martín Romualdez, speaking at the World Economic Forum in January, said Manila hopes the regional bloc will adopt a framework similar to its own bill.
Romualdez said Manila may seek to formulate such legislation when it assumes the ASEAN bloc’s annual rotating chair in 2026.
Analysts say much depends on what happens within the EU. Can the EU’s stricter, legally binding rules curb the potential downsides of AI without jeopardizing the fortunes of tech companies?
“Policymakers in Southeast Asia will pay close attention to how the EU AI law is implemented and what impact it will have on Europe’s digital economy,” Lee said.
