EU tech tsar Vestager sees political agreement on AI law this year

FILE PHOTO: European Commission Vice President Margrethe Vestager looks on during an interview with Reuters in Brussels, Belgium, March 28, 2022. REUTERS/Johanna Geron

TAKASAKI, Japan (Reuters) -The European Union is likely to reach a political agreement this year that will pave the way for the world's first major artificial intelligence (AI) law, the bloc's tech regulation chief Margrethe Vestager said on Sunday.

This follows a preliminary deal reached on Thursday by members of the European Parliament to push through the draft of the EU's Artificial Intelligence Act to a vote by a committee of lawmakers on May 11. Parliament will then thrash out the bill's final details with EU member states and the European Commission before it becomes law.