Southeast Asian nations are approaching artificial intelligence legislation in a business-friendly manner, putting the European Union’s desire for internationally unified regulations that complement its own severe framework on the back burner.
A private draft of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ (ASEAN) “guide to AI ethics and governance,” whose contents have not before been revealed, was examined by Reuters. ASEAN is made up of 10 countries.
According to three sources cited by Reuters, the document is being sent to IT companies for comment and is anticipated to be finalized at the ASEAN Digital Ministers Meeting at the end of January 2024. It was given to companies including Meta, IBM, and Google.
In an effort to persuade governments in the region to embrace new AI standards for tech businesses that require disclosure of copyrighted and AI-generated content, EU officials traveled to Asia early this year.
The ASEAN “AI guide” differs from the EU’s AI Act in that it does not specify unacceptable risk categories and instead advises businesses to consider cultural differences across nations. It serves as a framework for domestic rules and is voluntary, like all ASEAN policies.
Southeast Asian nations, home to about 700 million people and more than a thousand different ethnic and cultural groupings, have drastically varying laws governing hate speech, censorship, and public material that would probably affect the regulation of artificial intelligence. For instance, Thailand has laws prohibiting criticism of its monarchy.
In a region where existing local rules are already complex, technology executives claim that ASEAN’s mostly hands-off policy is more business-friendly since it reduces the compliance burden and fosters innovation.
