The US and EU should press the AI industry to adopt a voluntary code of conduct within months to provide safeguards as new laws are developed, EU tech chief Margrethe Vestager has said.

The EU is currently in the legislative process of developing the AI Act, which outlines rules around the likes of facial recognition and biometric surveillance and would be the world's first comprehensive legislation governing AI.

According to Reuters, after delivering a speech at a conference in Lulea, Sweden, Vestager, who has served as the EU’s vice president for A Europe Fit for the Digital Age and Competition since 2019, told reporters “we need to act now”.

"In the best of cases it will take effect in two and a half to three years’ time,” she said before a meeting with the joint EU-US Trade and Technology Council. “That is obviously way too late.”

Vestager’s comments follow a recent open letter by the Elon Musk-funded Future of Life Institute calling for a “six-month pause” on the training of AI systems.

The letter was signed by notable figures including philosopher Yuval Noah Harari and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.

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