According to new Global Trends research by Cullen International on policies and regulation on artificial intelligence (AI), most monitored jurisdictions have so far launched national strategies or plans on AI.

Regulatory intervention on AI is starting to emerge. Half of the monitored jurisdictions have either adopted (China and the EU) or proposed (Brazil, Canada, India, Korea and the US) regulations addressing AI systems.

In general, most jurisdictions do not prohibit AI applications provided those applications do not infringe any law. However, some expressly prohibit certain applications and uses of AI (e.g. China, the EU).

None of the monitored jurisdictions has published privacy rules for AI apart from the general privacy laws. However, Korea, Singapore, and the UK have published non-binding privacy guidelines for AI to complement their general privacy laws.

Most monitored jurisdictions have adopted rules or guidelines for AI-based decision making, mainly requiring transparency and/or risk assessment for high-risk AI systems.

China, the EU, South Africa and Taiwan allow an invention made by a generative AI system to be a patentable invention, if the invention has a “technical character”. Most of the monitored jurisdictions have not decided if AI-generated content is eligible for copyright protection. However, under certain conditions, some jurisdictions (e.g. Japan, the UK) allow the person using AI to generate content to be the author of the work.

All the monitored jurisdictions allow (or decided not to regulate) the use of generative AI systems in education. Only China regulates the use of deep synthesis technology in general. Other countries (e.g. Brazil, Korea) regulate the use of deepfakes in election periods.

The research covers Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the European Union (EU), India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa, Taiwan, the UK, and the US.

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