European Union: Published second draft of the General-Purpose AI Code of Practice

On 19 December 2024, the European AI Office published the second draft of the General-Purpose Artificial Intelligence (AI) Code of Practice, a development which is provided for in Article 56 of the European Union AI Act. The Code of Practice is a regulatory framework designed to ensure compliance with the AI Act by providers of general-purpose AI models. The draft Code of Practice uses commitments to outline obligations, measures to provide for actionable steps, and key performance indicators (KPIs) as criteria to evaluate the effectiveness of compliance and risk mitigation. The Code stipulates measures, transparency, and streamlining of the assessment process by the AI Office. In particular, the Code ensures that providers of general-purpose AI models maintain up-to-date documentation detailing technical specifications, training data, usage guidelines, and compliance measures. Furthermore, it promotes understanding across the AI value chain to support integration and fulfilment of obligations under the AI Act and related laws, including copyright compliance. Moreover, it assists providers of AI models in the identification, evaluation and mitigation of systemic risks at the Union level, with a view to safeguarding public interests. Written feedback will be received until 15 January 2025, and several discussions are planned prior to the release of the third draft on 17 February 2025.