“Three years ago, nobody cared about this conversation.” That’s what the boss of Faculty.ai, Mark Warner, told the BBC when asked about AI regulation. AI has been a sleeping giant, growing in strength and capability over the last decade. Now, everyone from Elon Musk to Bill Gates is wading in to solve the conundrum of AI regulation.

But global governments are moving too slowly. So far, only China has implemented temporary regulations. Service providers of mass-market AI products in China must submit a request to release a product and then receive clearance.

The EU and the UN are planning regulations, and the US Congress is seeking input on regulations and has called on Mark Zuckerberg and Musk in their AI forum. It could take years for the passage and enforcement of global AI acts. 

Companies have moved much faster and haven’t been able to wait for legislation to become regulation.

By November last year, Vodafone had already implemented a pan-European ethical AI policy.

Coursera, an online learning platform in our C5KE (Social and Economic Empowerment) fund, created their ‘Responsible AI Principles’ emphasising ‘Fairness’ and ‘Transparency’ in using AI as a business.

Governments argue that they are biding time because they can’t effectively regulate until they know the extent of what they are regulating against. But with Amazon announcing its $4bn investment in Athropropic — the latest tech giant to make a bet on generative AI — governments are running out of time.

You can read more about the pace of AI regulation from global governments here.