EU wants tech companies to label AI-generated content to counter disinformation

June 5 (UPI) -- The European Commission is asking all tech companies operating in the European Union to begin voluntarily labeling content appearing on their platforms that is generated by artificial intelligence.

The commission made the request Monday including to big tech companies like Google, Facebook and Twitter.

The governing body wants companies to begin complying immediately to counter growing threats of disinformation caused by AI tools like ChatGPT or DALL-E.

European Commission Vice President Values and Transparency Věra Jourová on Monday said the onus will be on companies like Facebook or TikTok to label so-called "deep fake" images or videos generated by AI tools on their platforms.

She said the requirement is urgent to counter Russian disinformation campaigns targeting European Union member states.

"This is not business as usual; what the Russians want is to undermine the support of the public opinion of our citizens for the support of Ukraine," Jourová said Monday.

"We simply have to defend our interests, our democracy; we have also to defend our, I will say it, fight and war because what we do is support your claim to win the war."

New legislation comes into effect Aug. 25 and tech companies could face stiff fines or even be blocked from operating in the bloc if they don't comply with the EU's Digital Services Act.

Twitter two weeks ago became the first and so far only major tech company to unsubscribe to the EU's current voluntary code of conduct.

"We believe this is a mistake of Twitter. Twitter has chosen the hard way. They chose confrontation," Jourová told reporters during a news conference Monday.

"If Twitter wants to operate and make money in the European market, it will have to comply with the Digital Services Act."

Twitter could be fined up to 6% of its revenue for non-compliance once the new legislation becomes law.