EU’s Proposed AI Act Slammed by Businesses and Tech Firms

Several of the largest companies in Europe collectively criticized the AI regulations recently approved by the European Union. The proposed law would create the West’s first-ever AI regulatory scheme. According to the companies, the Artificial Intelligence Act is ineffective and might have an adverse impact on competition.

As many as 163 prominent executives from major European companies like Renault, Dassault, Siemens, Heineken, Airbus, and Deutsche Telekom signed an open letter, demanding a less “bureaucratic” approach and fewer regulations.

What Does the Open Letter Say?

The open letter advocated for the significance of generative AI and compared it to the invention of the microchip or the internet.

In a context where we know very little about the real risks, the business model, or the applications of generative AI, European law should confine itself to stating broad principles in a risk-based approach.Open letter

According to the signatories, the EU should take a more hands-off approach to the regulation of artificial intelligence. They expressed their concerns over the AI Act making Europe far less competitive in the rapidly growing domain of AI technology.

The letter pointed out that under the proposed AI Act, foundational models would come under heavy regulations irrespective of their use cases.

Companies developing and implementing such systems would face disproportionate costs and disproportionate liability risks.Open letter

Approaching AI regulations with a logic of rigid compliance is bureaucratic and ineffective, according to the letter.

Jeannette zu Fürstenberg, a Founding Partner of La Famiglia VCFounding and one of the signatories of the letter, wrote that in its current form, the AI act has “catastrophic implications” for the competitiveness of European companies. The letter also warned that being required to comply with the proposed law could force major AI innovators to relocate out of Europe.

More About the AI Act

The AI act in question was passed by the European Parliament on the 14th of June and would become law if and when each European country ratified it. Provisions covered under the act include major restrictions, including a blanket ban on the application of AI in biometric identification. It further included a requirement for generative AI creators to disclose copyrighted materials.

The act warrants the labeling of AI-generated content and brings around safeguards against AI and illegal content.

The European Parliament has been working on developing the act’s rules for the past two years and expanded it to encompass the new AI breakthroughs in recent times. These include large language models (LLMs) and foundational models, with OpenAI’s GPT-4 being a prime example.

The parliament amended the act in April, specifically to add more regulations on generative AI. This led to a debate over the last-minute changes. However, the lawmakers ended up with a consensus that ChatGPT, Midjourney, and similar large language models must be regulated for the protection of core rights and values, such as freedom of expression.

Back in 2022, OpenAI lobbied the EU to make changes to a previous draft of the AI Act. OpenAI requested lawmakers to scrape a proposed amendment under which all providers of general-purpose AI systems would have been subjected to the strictest regulations under the act. As it turns out, the said amendment wasn’t incorporated into the final version of the legislation that was approved.

It still remains to be seen if the pushback from the leading tech companies, and businesses will succeed in forcing the EU to relax the regulations proposed under the act.

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