Brazil: Senate Commission will analyze the AI bill in 120 days

Catching up with the wave of regulatory attention to artificial intelligence (AI), Brazil gets its work plan to discuss, analyze and, if necessary, amend the bill on AI regulation. 

On Sept. 12, the local Senate’s Internal Temporary Commission on Artificial Intelligence (CTIA) publicly voted for its own work plan to analyze Senate Bill No. 2338, regulating AI. According to the work plan, the Commission will hold a series of 15 sessions with public hearings included, during the next 90 days. In 120 days, it should come up with a complex assessment of the document.

The bill, aimed at the “protection of fundamental rights and freedoms, valorization of work and the dignity of the human person and the technological innovation represented by artificial intelligence”, was introduced by Senator Rodrigo Pacheco in December 2022. According to the text of the work plan, the bill “is a complex proposal that requires careful analytical effort, with a view to ensuring the well-being of the Brazilian people, ensuring both economic and social growth.”

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During the vote’s discussion, Senator Astronauta Marcos Pontes (PL-SP), vice-president of the Commission, shared his concern about the “precautionary principle”, included in the bill. In his opinion, that principle could result in restrictions on technologies and Brazil’s disadvantage in AI development.

The topic of AI regulation stays at the center of public attention this year. On Sept.13, the top executives from some of the world’s largest tech and web companies concluded a closed-door meeting with U.S. lawmakers in Washington D.C. to discuss the potential approaches to regulation.

The Sept.13 Senate “AI Insight Forum” was organized by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and attended by 22 tech titans, including X (Twitter) owner Elon Musk, Google’s Sundar Pichai, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Sam Altman from OpenAI and Microsoft founder Bill Gates.

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