Evolving AI technology sparks regulations to balance innovation with ethics

By Sarah Shoaf, Staff Writer

As artificial intelligence (AI) evolves, it can bring up new questions and concerns about a need for regulations, something some Governors State University (GovState) professors explore in their published peer-reviewed article on the first comprehensive AI law in the world.

Alice Keane, Carlos Ferran and Robert Garcia collaborated on their article “AI and the European Union Artificial Intelligence Act: An Overview,” in which they dive into the details behind the first comprehensive, risk-based AI legislation.

Referring to the act as “a groundbreaking piece of legislation,” Keane noted its early beginnings as inspiration behind the article.

“Given the growing concerns about the need to regulate AI, I was struck by the fact that the EU (European Union) spent four years developing the Act—and began that work two years before generative AI became widely available,” said Keane, Associate Professor of Accounting. “The Act takes a risk-based approach to AI regulation, seeking to address potential harms while minimizing unnecessary interference with innovation.”

Ferran elaborated on the depth of their paper, which considers how legal frameworks have come about as AI has and continues to transform society.

“The article outlines the conceptual definitions of artificial intelligence, traces the history of the technology from foundational symbolic systems to modern generative models, and analyzes the policy imperatives driving regulation,” said Ferran, Full Professor of Accounting and Management Information Systems.

He added that the paper details the core pillars of the European Union Artificial Intelligence Act (EU AI Act), “which prohibits unacceptable-risk practices, enforces strict compliance and governance duties on high-risk applications, and imposes transparency and safety obligations on general-purpose AI models.”

It also offers a comparative analysis of the regulatory landscape in the United States, highlighting the absence of comprehensive federal legislation and the emergence of state-level laws, like the Colorado AI Act.

“Ultimately, the article demonstrates how the EU AI Act established an adaptable global benchmark that seeks to mitigate societal harms and safeguard fundamental human rights without suppressing technical innovation,” said Ferran.

Garcia, Assistant Professor of Management Information Systems, spoke to the group's collaboration efforts.

“Working alongside Alice and Carlos, I was not only able to learn from their insights and experiences to produce such a great contribution to the science, but was also inspired by the spirit of collaboration and support they showed, and motivated to see how we can continue to build upon that spirit to further the science and continue to build and strengthen our communities.”

Published in the Midwest Law Journal, the article received the journal’s Best Article Award, an annual award presented by the Midwest Academy of Legal Studies in Business to the top article published in the journal during a single year.

Since the publication of their article, Ferran and Keane have expressed excitement about other avenues of research they have pursued.

Ferran has looked further into AI, considering the question of whether AI can be creative and examining how reliable generative AI is in grading/evaluating subjective/qualitative material, and Keane has continued research in tax policy, examining the impact of regulations enacted to address the shortfall in motor fuels tax revenue on the market for electric and hybrid vehicles.

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