Consumer Group Urges EU to Investigate Risks of Generative AI

The BEUC, the largest consumer group in the EU, has urged European regulators to launch urgent investigations into the risks of generative AI. It also called for safety, data, and consumer protection authorities to start investigating now to prevent potential consumer harm from happening in the future. BEUC emphasised the numerous issues related to AI, including spreading disinformation, perpetuating existing biases, or being used for fraud. Forbrukerrådet in Norway, a member of the BEUC, released a report titled Ghost in the Machine: addressing the consumer harms of generative AI, stating unequivocally that AI poses consumer harms. AI poses a risk of bias when applied in areas such as financial services like mortgages and other loan applications, the EU’s competition chief, Margarethe Vestager, recently said. In response, the EU approved its official AI law, categorising AI applications into unacceptable, high, and limited risks. The law seeks to codify some understanding and legal enforcement on AI use for commercial and non-commercial purposes, and the next step is for the EU to engage with individual countries to identify their final form.