This year, Google and Meta both publicly criticize Western rules of artificial intelligence, suggesting it will undermine the region’s innovation potential.
Staff from Facebook’s family business along with Spotify, SAP, Ericsson, Klarna, and more signed an open letter to Europe expressing their concerns about “inconsistent regulation choice making”.
According to the report, European Data Protection Authorities ‘ actions have swayed users of the information they can use to train their AI types. The members are calling for fast and consistent decisions regarding data regulations that permit the use of Western data, similar to GDPR.
The email also highlights that the bloc may miss out on the latest “open” AI models, which are made freely available to all, and “multimodal” models, which accept insight and make result in words, images, talk, videos, and other formats.
Authorities are “depriving Germans of the technological advancements enjoyed in the U.S., China, and India” by preventing development in these fields. Plus, without free reign over European data, the models “wo n’t understand or reflect European knowledge, culture or languages”.
Notice: Firms Seek to Balance AI Innovation and Ethics, According to Deloitte
” We want to see Europe succeed and thrive, including in the field of cutting-edge AI studies and technology”, the letter reads. ” Europe has become less aggressive and impressive compared to other regions, and it now risks falling even further behind in the AI time as a result of uneven regulatory decision-making,” the truth is.
Google suggests that business designs may be able to use copyrighted data when modeling business models.
Google has even spoken out about the U.K. laws that prohibit the training of AI concepts on copyrighted materials.
” If we do not get strategic activity, there is a danger that we will be left behind”, Debbie Weinstein, Google’s U. K. managing director, told The Guardian.
” The unresolved rights problem is a stop to growth, and a way to disable that, obviously, from Google’s view, is to go back to where I think the government was in 2023 which was TDM being allowed for commercial apply”.
TDM, or text and data mine, is the process of copying copyrighted work. It is now merely allowed for non-commercial functions. Plans to make it available for business purposes were scrapped in February after being criticized frequently by artistic industries.
Google has even released a record called” Unlocking the U. K.’s Artificial Possible” this week where it makes a number of policy change suggestions, including allowing for corporate TDM, setting up a publicly-funded mechanism for mathematical resources, and launching a regional AI skills service.
SEE: 83 % of U. K. Businesses Increasing Wages for AI Skills
It also calls for a “pro-innovation regulatory framework”, which has a risk-based and context-specific approach and is managed by public regulators like the Competition and Markets Authority and the Information Commissioner’s Office, according to the Guardian.
EU’s regulations have impacted Big Tech’s AI plans
The E. U. represents a huge market for the world’s biggest tech companies, with 448 million people. However, they were unable to introduce their most recent AI products in the region because of the strict regulations in place under the AI Act and the Digital Markets Act.
In response to criticism from Irish regulators, Meta delayed training its large language models on public content shared by adults on Facebook and Instagram in Europe in June. Meta AI, its frontier AI assistant, has still not been released within the bloc due to its “unpredictable” regulations.
Apple will also not be making its new suite of generative AI capabilities, Apple Intelligence, available on devices in the E. U. initially, citing “regulatory uncertainties brought about by the Digital Markets Act”, via Bloomberg.
SEE: Apple Intelligence EU: Potential Mac Release Amid DMA Rules
The company is” concerned that the interoperability requirements of the DMA could force us to compromise the integrity of our products in ways that risk user privacy and data security,” according to a statement that an Apple spokesman Fred Sainz gave to The Verge.
Thomas Regnier, a European Commission spokesperson, told TechRepublic in an emailed statement:” All companies are welcome to offer their services in Europe, provided that they comply with E. U. legislation”.
Google’s Bard chatbot was released in Europe four months after its U. S. and U. K. launch, following privacy concerns raised by the Irish Data Protection Commission. It is thought that similar regulatory pushback led to the delayed arrival of its second iteration, Gemini, in the region.
This month, Ireland’s DPC launched a new inquiry into Google’s AI model, PaLM 2, as it may violate GDPR regulations. In particular, it is looking into whether Google had conducted an adequate assessment to assess the risks associated with how it handled the data collected by Europeans for the model.
In order to train its AI model Grok, X has also agreed to permanently stop processing personal data from E. U. users ‘ public posts. Elon Musk’s business was sued by the DPC in the Irish High Court after the court determined that the company had not implemented mitigation measures, such as an opt-out option, for several months after it had begun collecting data.
Given that Ireland has one of the lowest corporate tax rates in the E. U. at 12.5 %, many tech companies have their European headquarters there. This is why the country’s data protection authority is crucial in regulating technology across the bloc.
UK’s own AI regulations remain unclear
The U. K. government’s stance on AI regulation has been mixed, partly because of the change in leadership in July. Some experts worry that over-regulating might lead to the demise of the biggest tech players.
On July 31, Peter Kyle, Secretary of State for Science, Innovation, and Technology, told executives at Google, Microsoft, Apple, Meta, and other major tech players that the incoming AI Bill will focus on the large ChatGPT-style foundation models created by just a handful of companies, according to the Financial Times.
He also assured them that the legislation would not turn into a” Christmas tree bill” and add more regulations through the legislative process. He added that the bill would primarily concentrate on making legally binding agreements between businesses and the government and turning the AI Safety Institute into an “arm’s length government body” ( as a” smooth government body )
As seen with the E. U., AI regulations delay the rollout of new products. Regulators risk restricting consumers ‘ access to the most recent technologies, which could have real advantages, despite the intention to protect them.
In contrast to what it is currently doing in the E. U., Meta has capitalized on this lack of immediate regulation in the U. K. by announcing it will train its AI systems on public content shared on Facebook and Instagram in the nation.
SEE: Delaying AI’s Rollout in the U. K. by Five Years Could Cost the Economy £150+ Billion, Microsoft Report Finds
On the other hand, in August, the Labour government shelved £1.3 billion worth of funding that had been earmarked for AI and tech innovation by the Conservatives.
The U.K. government has also made numerous statements regarding its intention to strict uphold regulations on AI developers. According to Julia’s King’s Speech, the government will” seek to establish the appropriate legislation to impose requirements on those working to create the most powerful artificial intelligence models.”
