Alamy (via Reuters Connect)
While businesses focus on innovation, governments grapple with regulatory issues
UAE aims to be pro-business; challenges to ensuring safety; global cooperation is needed
Industry experts say the UAE’s focus on fostering innovation and economic growth makes it an attractive destination for artificial intelligence (AI) investments, but risks leaving gaps in privacy accountability and oversight. It is said that there is.
Gregor Amon, Dubai-based entrepreneur and founder of AI Expert Academy, said: “The challenge is that AI has already reached its limits and it will take much longer for regulations to catch up with real innovation. In such a world, it’s about balancing innovation and safety.” .
Artificial intelligence has become the cornerstone of economic and social development, perhaps as revolutionary as the invention of the personal computer, and governments around the world are working to regulate it.
The European Union has issued a comprehensive, but critics say strict, set of AI rules, while the UAE has adopted a lighter-touch, business-friendly approach. The two philosophies reflect a global debate about how best to balance experimentation and safety.
How Brussels and London regulate AI
The EU AI law passed in March 2024 established a “horizontal” (across all sectors and applications) legal framework. According to the sponsors, it aims to ensure the safety, accountability and transparency of AI systems. But it also has its drawbacks.
The bloc’s strict regulations can be a barrier for small and medium-sized businesses and startups that find it difficult to comply with costly requirements.
“Blanket legislation, as we see in the EU, makes it very difficult for parliaments to change the law and can even threaten technological progress,” said Ares, senior lecturer in AI and law at Brunel University in London.・Gikai says.
The UK approach is driven by sectors, with no overarching regulation covering AI as a whole. Instead, regulations address specific “pain points” in each industry. But many experts, including Gikay, say the UK’s regulations need further development.
UAE has a “patchwork of laws”
The UAE has pursued a more agile regulatory framework in an effort to position itself as a global center for AI.
Amon said the company is “taking a more flexible, pro-business approach and always aiming to be a hub for rapid innovation.”
UAE policies are geared to foster public-private partnerships and facilitate the rapid deployment of technology.
In a report published in October, law firm White & Case said that the UAE does not have a single law in place, but rather that the UAE “is committed to becoming a world leader in the field of AI. “There is a patchwork of laws and guidelines issued over time,” he said.
Meanwhile, although no laws or regulations have been issued to explicitly regulate AI in the UAE Financial Free Zones, several amendments have been made to existing laws, including data protection rules, to accommodate technological advancements brought about by AI. are.
This approach prioritizes innovation while mitigating risk through industry-driven guidelines rather than blanket regulations.
global challenge
Both regulatory models face challenges. Amon points out the global complexity of AI governance: “The big question is: will regulation work, as open source AI models already have the ability to run on basic PCs? These tools can circumvent safeguards and be easily exploited. and obviously the global risks will be harder to control.”
Amon argues that the world will need a multifaceted strategy to respond and regulate effectively.
“We need laws to ensure corporate responsibility, but we also need softer measures like ethical guidelines. Global cooperation is essential to address open source challenges,” he says.
