Independent experts present the first draft of the General-Purpose AI Code of Practice, which will be discussed with around 1000 stakeholders next week. The AI Office is facilitating relevant AI Act understanding with dedicated questions and answers for stakeholders.
The iterative drafting of the General-Purpose AI Code of Practice reaches an important milestone after the kick-off on 30 September, concluding the first out of four drafting rounds until April 2025. The first draft of the Code was prepared by independent experts, appointed as Chairs and Vice-Chairs of four thematic working groups. As facilitator of the Code drawing-up, the European AI Office published the draft. The experts developed this initial version based on the contributions from a providers of general-purpose AI models as the addressees of the Code of Practice. The drafting also took into account international approaches.
The Chairs and Vice-Chairs present this first draft as a foundation for further detailing and refinement, inviting feedback to help shape each iteration towards the final version of the Code. They also outline guiding principles and objectives for the Code, aiming to provide stakeholders with a clear sense of direction of the final Code’s potential form and content. Open questions are included to highlight areas for further progress. The final draft will set out clear objectives, measures, and, where relevant, key performance indicators (KPIs).
The final document will play a crucial role in guiding the future development and deployment of trustworthy and safe general-purpose AI models. It should detail transparency and copyright-related rules for providers of general-purpose AI models. For a small number of providers of most advanced general-purpose AI models that could pose systemic risks, the Code should also detail a taxonomy of systemic risks, risk assessment measures, as well as technical and governance mitigation measures.
Next steps
Next week, as part of the Code of Practice Plenary, the Chairs together with nearly 1000 stakeholders, EU Member States representatives, European and international observers will discuss the draft in dedicated working group meetings. Each day one of the four working groups will meet, in which the respective Chairs will update on the recent drafting progress. A balanced set of stakeholders from interested participants will be invited to share verbal remarks. All participants will get the chance to voice their views in interactive ways and pose questions to Chairs. On Friday 22 November, the Chairs will present key insights from the discussions to the full Plenary.
In parallel, Plenary participants have received a draft through a dedicated platform (Futurium) with two weeks to submit written feedback by Thursday 28 November, 12:00 CET. Based on this feedback, Chairs may adjust the measures in the first draft while adding more detail to the Code. Their drafting principles stress that measures, sub-measures, and KPIs should be proportionate to the risks, take into account the size of the general-purpose AI model provider, and allow simplified compliance options for SMEs and start-ups. Following the AI Act, the Code will also reflect notable exemptions for providers of open-source models. The principles also highlight the need for a balance between clear requirements and flexibility to adapt as technology evolves.
Below you can download the draft code of practice. You can also download the dedicated Q&A, which helps explaining the regulatory approach to General-purpose AI in the AI Act.
To download the First Draft General-Purpose AI Code of Practice follow the source link.
Source: European Commission (Shaping Europe’s digital future) | Library (https://shorturl.at/MNIo9)