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After using a large language model, such as ChatGPT, for a while, it is not hard to image an array of nightmarish scenarios that these generative artificial intelligence (AI) programs could bring about. While ChatGPT and its emerging rivals currently have "guardrails" -- ethical limits on what it will do in response to a prompt -- the bounds thereof are not well understood. Through clever prompting, it is not hard to convince the current iteration of ChatGPT to do away with certain guardrails from time to time. Further, the companies behind these models have not defined the extent of the guardrails, while the very structures underlying the models are well known to behave in unpredictable ways. Not to mention what might happen if a "jailbroken" large language model is ever released to the public.

As an example, a user might ask the model to describe terrorist attack vectors that no human has ever previously conceived of. Or, a model might generate software code and convince a gullible user to download and execute it on their computer, resulting in personal financial information being sent to a third party.

Perhaps one of the most relevant risks of large language models is that once they are implemented and deployed, the marginal cost of creating misinformation becomes close to zero. If a political campaign, interest group, or government wishes to inundate social media with misleading posts about a public figure, a policy, or a law, it will be able to do so at volume without having to employ a roomful of humans.

In 2021, the European Commission of the European Union (EU) proposed harmonized rules for the regulation of AI. The Commission recognized both the perils and the benefits of AI and attempted to come up with a framework for regulation that employs oversight in proportion to the specific dangers inherent in certain uses of AI. The resulting laws enacted by member states would potentially have the Brussels Effect, in that EU regulation of its own markets become a de facto standard for the rest of the world. This is largely what happened for the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) laws.

But very few people saw generative AI coming or the meteoric rise of ChatGPT at the end of 2022. Thus, the Commission is in the process of re-evaluating its rules in view of these paradigm-breaking technologies.

The Commission's proposal places all AI systems into one of three risk levels: (i) unacceptable risk, (ii) high risk, and (iii) low or minimal risk. The amount of regulation would be the greatest for category (i) and the least (e.g., none) for category (iii).

Uses of AI that create an unacceptable risk include those that violate fundamental rights, manipulate individuals subliminally, exploit specific vulnerable groups (e.g., children and persons with disabilities), engage in social scoring (evaluating the trustworthiness of persons based on their social behavior), and facilitate real-time biometric recognition for purposes of law enforcement. These uses would be prohibited.

A high risk AI may be classified as such based on its intended purpose and modalities of use. There are two main types of high risk systems: (i) those intended to be used as safety component of products (e.g., within machinery, toys, radio equipment, recreational vehicles, and medical devices), and (ii) other systems explicitly listed (e.g., involving biometrics, critical infrastructure, education, employment, law enforcement, and immigration). These categories are quite broad and would impact many diverse industries. The proposal sets forth detailed legal requirements for such systems relating to data governance, documentation and recording keeping, transparency and provision of information to users, human oversight, robustness, accuracy, and security, as well as conformity assessment procedures.

Regarding low or minimal risk AI systems, their use would be permitted with no restrictions. However, the Commission envisions these systems potentially adhering to voluntary codes of conduct relating to transparency concerns.

To that point, the proposal also states that "[t]ransparency obligations will apply for systems that (i) interact with humans, (ii) are used to detect emotions or determine association with (social) categories based on biometric data, or (iii) generate or manipulate content ('deep fakes')." In these situations, there is an obligation to disclose that the content has been machine-generated in order to allow the users to make informed choices.

Currently, the Commission is considering whether to place ChatGPT and its ilk in the high risk category, thus subjecting it to significant regulation. There has been pushback, however, from parties who believe that the regulations should distinguish between harmful uses of these models (e.g., spreading misinformation) and minimal-risk uses (e.g., coming up with new recipes, composing funny poems). In other words, the amount of regulation that applied to ChatGPT should vary based on its use -- and aesthetically pleasing goal but one that would be difficult to carry out in practice because of the model's broad scope and general applicability.

Whether this results in the proposed regulations being delayed and/or rewritten remains to be seen. The Commission will be taking up the issue.

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ChatGPT Throws Wrench into Europe's Attempts to Regulate AI - JD Supra

Giorgia Meloni, Italy's prime minister, has a tough choice to make

Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Italy's rather surprising decision to join China's Belt and Road Initiative a few years back is being thrust back into the fore, with a deadline to potentially end it fast approaching under Rome's new leadership.

Italy has previously been described as a "middle-power" bridge used by Beijing and Moscow to strike deals with a country that's a member of NATO, the European Union, and the G-7 group of advanced economies.

In 2019, Rome sent shockwaves throughout the Western world when it signed up to the BRI China's massive infrastructure and investment plan aimed at boosting its influence across the world. At the time, analysts said that by joining the project, Italy was undermining Europe's ability to stand up to Beijing.

When former European Central Bank governor Mario Draghi took power in Rome in 2021, he froze the agreement and led a critical screening of Chinese investments in the country having vetoed at least three Chinese takeovers during that year.

Two years down the line and with a new government in place, Rome is now having another think about its ties with China.

"It is a very controversial issue for the Italian government," Silvia Menegazzi, professor of international relations and Chinese studies at Luiss University, said over the phone, adding that this is due to one key reason: Taiwan.

China sees Taiwan as a breakaway province, while Taiwan sees itself as separate from China, having ruled itself since splitting from the mainland in 1949 following a protracted civil war. Tensions between the two have risen over the years, and high-level U.S. politicians' visits to Taiwan have drawn Beijing's ire.

New Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said via Twitter prior to her election in September and standing next to a representative from Taiwan that she stands alongside those who believe in democracy.

If Italy chooses closer ties to Taiwan, that will surely jeopardize its relations with China. At the same time, deepening investment links with Beijing might go against what Meloni promised pre-election.

A delegation of Italian politicians was due to travel to Taiwan in April. But the trip was postponed to an unspecified date, according to media reports.

"I believe they might not decide anything," Menegazzi said, suggesting the Italian government will continue its Belt and Road participation for now.

Under the agreement the two parties can end the deal after five years, otherwise the partnership gets extended for another five-year term. Italy has until the end of the 2023 to inform China on whether it wants to end the deal.

Back in 2022 and prior to being elected, Meloni said that joining the BRI was a "big mistake."

"Since becoming PM, she's chosen to present herself as aligned with the U.S. on the Chinese front. Yet she's under pressure from her coalition partners, [Lega's Matteo] Salvini and [Forza Italia's Silvio] Berlusconi, whose respective constituencies are softer on China being interested in closer economic ties through the Belt and Road initiative," Alberto Alemanno, professor of EU law at the H.E.C. business school, said via email.

The office for the prime minister was not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC Wednesday. Meloni leads a coalition with two other right-wing parties: Lega and Forza Italia.

The upcoming decision for Rome comes at a time when the wider European Union is framing a new relationship with China. The bloc is finding it increasingly hard to strike a united front toward Beijing, with some nations favoring economic links and others pushing for a more critical approach.

In 2022, China was the largest source of EU imports and the third largest buyer of EU goods, highlighting the economic importance that Beijing has for Europe. This is particularly relevant when economic growth in the EU is vulnerable to the ongoing war in Ukraine.

This economic argument is also supported by those who think a close relationship with Beijing is needed to accomplish advancements in climate policy.

But for many European governments, China could and should do more to support Ukraine in the wake of Russia's invasion. China has failed to condemn Russia's onslaught of its neighbor and in a visit to Moscow in March, China's leader Xi Jinping referred to his Russian counterpart as a dear friend.

On top of that, Beijing has proposed a 12-point peace plan for the Ukraine war. The plan fails to specify whether Russia needs to leave Ukrainian territory for a deal to be completed. Ukraine has made it clear it will not agree to any peace deal that does not involve regaining full control of its territory.

Furthermore, the United States has added pressure on EU nations to be more critical of China in line with national security concerns. Countries in Europe that are keen on a healthy transatlantic relationship will not have a problem following that path.

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Italy signed up to China's Belt and Road Initiative. Now it's having second thoughts - CNBC

MICHEL Barnier, the EU's former chief negotiator on Brexit has been on a walking holiday on the Isle of Skye, but still managed to make a pointed dig at the British Government and his equivalent in Boris Johnson'sgovernment, the former UK Brexit negotiator David Frost, by praising the good cooperation between the European Union and the Scottish Government.

Barnier made the comment in a tweet while out walking near the Old Man of Storr when he encountered a sign marking joint support by the European Union and the Scottish Government for a nature conservation project.

He tweeted: "On the path of Old Man of Storr in the north of the Scottish island of Skye...happy to find a lasting trace of the good cooperation between the European Union and the Scottish government...".

Writing in his memoir, he said under Theresa May the UK negotiated in good faith, but she was pushed aside by the likes of Johnson and Frost whereupon "ideology took hold of the pragmatism of the UK."

Barnier will certainly be aware of the controversy stirred up by Frost in recent weeks with his call to roll back devolution and prevent the Scottish Government from being "an independent actor on the world stage."

READ MORE:Scotland reacts as public urged to pledge allegiance to King Charles

Frost has made it clear that he views the Scottish Parliament as a local administration.An opinion which Prime Minister Rishi Sunak apparently shares, referring to Holyroodas a 'devolved assembly' in his speech to the Scottish Conservative conference last week.

The Scottish Government's External Affairs Secretary Angus Robertson has written to the Foreign Secretary James Cleverly demanding that he withdraw "rude" and "undemocratic" guidance intended to curtail Scottish ministers' overseas work.

The guidance emerged last month after Cleverly issued a letter to British diplomats containg four demands about how the overseas visits of Scottish ministers should be handled.

Insultingly, the new guidance was not communicated to the Scottish Government through official channels, Scottish Government ministers only found out about it through newspaper reports.

Dr Kirsty Hughes, a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh who previously worked at the European Commission, said the guidance would mean that foreign diplomats would clearly see that Scottish Government ministers were "being treated like children".

That's undoubtedly the intent of these new rules, part of the Conservative plan to reduce the Scottish Parliament to a local authority and to neuter any source of political power that the Conservatives do not control.

READ MORE:Scots less likely to watch coronation than rest of UK, poll says

Scots have plenty to suffer this week with the increasingly desperate and nauseating British nationalist festival of humour free high campery and bunting shagging that is the coronation being shoved down our throats by an incessant media.

Over the weekend we learned that we are all to be invited to swear allegiance to Chuck on his special day of hat plonking.

There's bound to be plenty of Scottish people enthusiastically swearing, just not in words that can be printed in a family newspaper.

Despite BBC Scotland's unconvincing attempts to find some Scottish angle to the proceedings, Scots are either not interested or are actively alienated by the red white and blue pageant of privilege and pointlessness.

A recent opinion poll carried out by YouGov found that over 70% of Scots are not interested in the coronation.

A more widespread Scottish attitude was displayed over the weekend by the Celtic fans who were singing "You can stick the coronation up yer A***," which ought to be Scotland's entry in next week's Eurovision Song Contest.

As if we don't have enough to suffer this week due to mediocre adulterers with messiah complexes, Scotland now has been inflicted with a visit from alleged rapist and criminally indicted former American president Donald Trump.

He is visiting his golf courses in Aberdeenshire and Ayrshire, presumably in hope of cheating at a few rounds of golf before he becomes a convicted criminal as opposed to an unindicted co-conspirator.

Trump faces mounting legal problems back home, with other criminal indictments thought to be looming, all of which are more serious than the 34 charges he's currently facing relating to hush money payments to adult movie actress Stormy Daniels.

READ MORE:Former Scottish Tory MP has Make America Great Again hat signed by Donald Trump

Despite his many and varied legal woes, which may very well see him becoming a convicted criminal, and opinion polling which consistently shows he's likely to lose if he runs again as a candidate for the presidency in 2024, Trump appears likely to secure the Republican nomination meaning that we will see a rematch of the 2020 contest between Trump and Biden.

Should Trump lose that campaign, he will certainly refuse to concede and America may yet again face a violent insurrection from Trump's embittered followers, stirred up by the conspiracy theory touting far right media which now has a foothold in the UK too.

This piece is an extract from todays REAL Scottish Politics newsletter, which is emailed out at 7pm every weekday with a round-up of the day's top stories and exclusive analysis from the Wee Ginger Dug.

To receive our full newsletter including this analysis straight to your email inbox,clickHERE and click the "+" sign-up symbol for the REAL Scottish Politics.

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Wee Ginger Dug: The EU is aware of devolution attacks - The National

The European Union (EU) through its Youth Arise project has trained over 1,000 Bauchi and Yobe states young people and equipped them with the required skills to enable them participate in decision-making on local development and economic empowerment initiatives, enhancing their participation in conflict prevention, mitigation, and management.

The EU expressed the conviction that involving young people in decision-making processes can empower them and build their strengths, help policy makers view youth as a resource to inform their decisions, and result in policies and priorities that are more relevant to youths inclusive development.

This was disclosed by assistant project manager at delegation of the European Union in Nigeria, Felix Ngozi while speaking at the one-day youth summit organised by International Alert, Taimako Community Development Initiative in partnership with the European Union held at Bauchi.

According to her, young people across the world are facing challenges related to job creation and labour markets, globalisation, governance and the impact of climate change.

She said many young people are not in employment, education or training, and the global youth unemployment rate of 13.6 percent is three times higher than that of adults, with young women being the most vulnerable.

The assistant project manager said this can push young people into political apathy, radicalisation, crime or irregular migration, At the same time, young generations represent a key actor for change and development. We have already seen the increasing leadership role of youth in fighting climate change, advancing digital entrepreneurship and demanding sound democratic governance.

The European Union- Youth Arise project has engaged with youth and youth-led organizations from diverse backgrounds, this engagement has confirmed our belief that meaningful youth engagement is critical for the creation of sustainable, widespread, and high-impact change in the systems and settings that can support young peoples progress, she added.

Felix said in a move to create opportunities for change, policy and change makers need to find effective ways to involve youth in shaping policy, improving services and strengthening trust between youth and decision makers.

An attempt at addressing the challenges of youth exclusion and conflict in Yobe and Bauchi states has been attained through creating opportunities for young people to have more say in decisions that shape their lives, thus reducing grievances, addressing their basic needs, and rebuilding the fractured trust with community leaders, state authorities and security forces.

Such trust is the foundation of long-term stability, as it encourages collaboration between different stakeholders in preventing and responding to conflict triggers. This is evident in some of the results achieved under the Matasa Ku Taso: Youth Arise! Project, which has an overall objective to increase the leadership role of young people in addressing local drivers of conflict and fragility in Bauchi and Yobe states through enhanced youth participation in conflict prevention, mitigation and management, and increased youth access to decision-making on local development and economic empowerment initiatives, Felix Ngozi added.

She said the European Union would continue to partner with all stakeholders to promote youth inclusion, human rights and civil society participation.

The EU also commended the partnership with International Alert, Taimako Community Development Initiative, the Government of Yobe and Bauchi states in providing opportunities for young people to build their capacity for leadership and engage with government on policy issues, particularly issues related to conflict management and peace-building.

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EU Trains 1,000 Bauchi, Yobe Youths On Conflict Prevention, Others - Leadership News

BRUSSELS, April 18 (Reuters) - The European Union on Tuesday agreed a 43 billion euro ($47 billion) plan for its semiconductor industry in an attempt to catch up with the United States and Asia and start a green industrial revolution.

The EU Chips Act, proposed by the European Commission last year and confirmed by Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton, aims to double the bloc's share of global chip output to 20% by 2030 and follows the U.S. CHIPS for America Act.

Reuters reported on April 5 that a deal was imminent and the confirmation of the EU Chips Act was welcomed by industry players which said it would bring manufacturing capabilities, skills and research and development improvements.

"We need chips to power digital and green transitions or healthcare systems," Commission Vice-President Margrethe Vestager said in a tweet.

Since the announcement of its chips subsidies plan last year, the EU has already attracted more than 100 billion euros in public and private investments, an EU official said.

But the EU may struggle to close the gap with rivals, said analysts such as Paul Triolo, a China and tech expert at the Washington-based Center for Strategic & International Studies.

"The critical piece of the equation which the EU will need to get right, as for the U.S., is how much of the supply chains supporting the industry can be moved to the EU and at what cost," said Triolo.

While the Commission had originally proposed funding only cutting-edge chip plants, EU governments and lawmakers have widened the scope to cover the whole value chain, including older chips and research and design facilities.

Hendrik Bourgeois, VP European Government Affairs at U.S. chipmaker Intel, which will get subsidies for a plant it operates in Germany, welcomed the deal saying ti showed that the EU was "serious about securing its future prosperity".

Reporting by Foo Yun Chee

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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EU takes on United States, Asia with chip subsidy plan - Reuters