Ukraine Unveils Roadmap to Regulate AI and Cryptocurrency Industries in Alignment with EU AI Act

Ukraine is following in the footsteps of the European Union’s EU AI Act, 2023. It has launched a similar ‘roadmap’ for creating a concrete set of rules for regulating all AI-based or AI-related industries, including cryptocurrency. 

What is the EU AI Act?

In June this year, the European Union published the EU Artificial Intelligence Act 2023. It is the first real attempt at AI regulation in history. By establishing unified regulations governing the development, marketing, and use of AI in the EU, it seeks to transform Europe into a center for reliable AI worldwide. 

What is Ukraine’s Plan, aka ‘roadmap’?

On October 7, the Ukrainian Ministry of Digital Transformation unveiled its AI regulatory roadmap. According to the roadmap, made public on the ministry’s website, it is intended to assist local businesses in getting ready to implement a law similar to the AI Act of the European Union. Additionally, it aims to inform people on how to minimize the risks associated with AI. 

The roadmap will give companies the tools they need to prepare for future standards before passing any laws, the roadmap’s announcement claims. It is built on a bottom-up methodology that advocates moving from less to more.

The plan establishes a trial period to give the businesses 2-3 years to adjust to potential rules. 

According to Oleksandr Borniakov, Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation, the ministry intends to foster company self-regulation in several ways. In particular, companies can demonstrate their ethical usage of AI by embracing a voluntary code of standards and behavior. A White Paper is another resource that will help firms understand the strategy, timeline, and phases of regulation implementation.

The Deputy Minister, Mr. Borniakov posted on X saying, “Аrtificial intelligence is the world-spreading trend. Ukraine keeps pace with it. We created a road map for AI regulation in Ukraine. The final result of its implementation will be a national law similar to the European AI Act.”

Vision of the Ukrainian Ministry of Digital Transformation

The Ministry also wants to create a forum for collaboration where businesses may share best practices and discuss difficulties with AI regulation. This platform will be a helpful tool for companies looking for advice on negotiating the shifting regulatory landscape. The Ministry also intends to host training courses and workshops to inform businesses about the ethical and open use of artificial intelligence technologies to ensure they are ready for upcoming rules. 

According to the plan, the development of the Ukrainian AI legislation is anticipated in 2024, but not before the EU’s AI Act permits the national law to consider it. 

The European Parliament approved the EU AI Act in June. Once put into effect, the act would limit or prohibit some AI services and products while outright banning others.

Biometric monitoring, social scoring systems, predictive policing, so-called “emotion recognition,” and untargeted facial recognition systems are some of the expressly forbidden technologies. If their outputs were marked as AI-generated, generative AI models like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard would be permitted to run.