Big Tech Giants Challenge EU's AI Regulations, Citing Innovation Concerns

Big Tech criticises EU's AI regulation - is it justified?

An open letter from various tech companies says the EU should reassert the 'harmonisation enshrined in regulatory frameworks like the GDPR', but many recent AI issues for these companies stem from GDPR itself. Big Tech companies are pushing the fear factor onto EU policymakers, warning that its "fragmented" regulation around AI could hamper innovation and progress. An open letter singed by various Big Tech leaders - including Patrick Collison and Meta's Mark Zuckerberg - claims Europe is becoming less competitive and innovative than other regions due to "inconsistent regulatory decision making". This letter follows a report from former Italian prime minister Mario Draghi, which called for an annual spending boost of €800bn to prevent a "slow and agonising decline" economically. But the Big Tech warning also follows issues for these companies to train their AI models with the data of EU citizens using their services. Meanwhile, the EU's AI Act - its landmark regulation around AI - recently entered into force and is expected to bring significant regulatory changes in the coming months and years. Not everyone is in agreement with the complaints in the open letter. Dr Kris Shrishak, a technology fellow at the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, has been critical on aspects of the AI Act, but told SiliconRepublic.com that it holds the answer these companies are asking for. "The harmonisation that the letter asks for is provided by the EU's AI Act," Shrishak said. "Now it is up to these companies to read and follow the law. They are free to do so immediately." What does the open letter say? The letter includes signatures from representatives of 36 organisations, including Meta, Spotify, Ericsson, Klarna and SAP. These signatories say AI models can "turbocharge productivity, drive scientific research, and add hundreds of billions of euros to the European economy". But the letter also says the EU's current regulation means the bloc risks missing out on "open" AI models and the latest "multimodal" models that can operate across text, images and speech. The letter says companies are going to invest heavily into AI models for European citizens, then they need "clear rules" that enable the use of European data. "But in recent times, regulatory decision making has become fragmented and unpredictable, while interventions by the European Data Protection Authorities have created huge uncertainty about what kinds of data can be used to train AI models," the letter reads. "This means the next generation of open source AI models, and products, services we build on them, won't understand or reflect European knowledge, culture or languages." Without clear regulation, the letter says Europe could miss out on the "technological advances enjoyed in the US, China and India". "Europe can't afford to miss out on the widespread benefits from responsibly built open AI technologies that will accelerate economic growth and unlock progress in scientific research," the letter reads. "For that we need harmonised, consistent, quick and clear decisions under EU data regulations that enable European data to be used in AI training for the benefit of Europeans." For or against GDPR? The letter also says that Europe could reassert the "principle of harmonisation enshrined in regulatory frameworks like the GDPR" or it can "continue to reject progress" and lose access to AI technology. But recent issues around data collection for AI models in Europe are not due to the AI Act - they are due to GDPR. Earlier this year, Meta shared plans to train its large language models using public content shared by adults on Facebook and Instagram. But this led to concerns from privacy advocates such as the Noyb group, which said the data Meta planned to collect could include personal information, thereby breaching GDPR rules. In June, Meta paused its data collection plans after discussions with the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) and called it a "step backwards for European innovation". The DPC also investigated X for its plans to train the AI chatbot Grok using EU citizen data. The DPC had concerns that X's plans were not compliant with GDPR - X agreed to suspend its processing of personal data from those in the European Economic Area on a permanent basis. The DPC is also currently investigating Google to see if it complied with EU data laws when developing one of its AI models - PaLM 2. Meanwhile, other agencies are warning about a lack of AI regulation in other parts of the world. A recent report from the UN's AI advisory body said there is a "global governance deficit with respect to AI". This report also said that AI technology is "too important, and the stakes are too high, to rely only on market forces and a fragmented patchwork of national and multilateral action". Don't miss out on the knowledge you need to succeed. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic's digest of need-to-know sci-tech news.

Meta to European Union: Your tech rules threaten to squelch AI boom

In an open letter that was coordinated by Meta, executives from more than two dozen companies said AI can boost productivity and expand the economy, but Europe might reap fewer rewards than other jurisdictions. "Europe has become less competitive and less innovative compared to other regions and it now risks falling further behind in the AI era due to inconsistent regulatory decision making," the letter said. The letter calls on the EU to harmonize its rules and provide what the signatories refer to as a modern interpretation of the bloc's data-protection law. Other signatories include representatives from Swedish telecommunications-equipment company Ericsson, German software company SAP and German industrial group Thyssenkrupp, along with researchers and civil-society and trade groups. The letter comes after Meta and Apple said new AI features they are rolling out elsewhere won't initially be available in Europe because of the bloc's regulations. Apple said in June that it likely wouldn't introduce its new AI system, called Apple Intelligence, for European iPhone users this year because of what it said were uncertainties caused by a new digital-competition law. Requirements that large tech companies make it easier for rival services to work on their operating systems "could force us to compromise the integrity of our products in ways that risk user privacy and data security," Apple said at the time. Meta said separately in July that it wouldn't release a future multimodal AI model in the EU in the near term because of what it referred to as "the unpredictable nature of the European regulatory environment." The company had previously said it would delay a plan to train its AI models using data from adults' public posts on Facebook and Instagram in Europe after Ireland's data-protection authority raised concerns. The European Commission, the bloc's executive body, has said that all companies are welcome to offer their services in Europe if they comply with the bloc's laws. The EU has developed a reputation as a leading global regulator whose rules often have a sweeping global impact. The bloc's General Data Protection Regulation, which aims to safeguard personal data, rippled globally and became a template for some countries. More recent EU legislation dealing with digital competition, online content and AI has since been introduced, prompting some of the world's biggest tech companies to change how they operate in the bloc. Lawmakers and officials say the EU's regulations are crucial to challenging monopolistic behavior by large tech companies, curbing the spread of disinformation and abusive online material and protecting children online. But the rules have also prompted complaints from some companies and industry groups, which say they are cumbersome to implement and put Europe at a disadvantage. It isn't unusual for companies to stagger the rollout of new products and features in regions outside the U.S. The Google AI chatbot Bard, since renamed Gemini, expanded into the bloc months after its initial launch in the U.S. and U.K. Bard's release in Europe was delayed, in part, by a request from Ireland's data-protection authority for additional privacy features. Meta last year released its Threads social-media platform in the EU, months after it first rolled out in the U.S. The EU, with some 450 million consumers, is among the world's largest and wealthiest markets, making it an important source of revenue for large tech companies. The letter published Thursday said that EU regulations could mean European organizations have worse access to open AI models, which can be downloaded and adjusted. The bloc might also miss out on newer models that can combine text, images and speech, the letter said. The letter singled out what it said was an inconsistent application of the bloc's data-protection regulations, which it said creates uncertainty over the kinds of data that can be used to train AI models. "If companies and institutions are going to invest tens of billions of euros to build Generative AI for European citizens, they require clear rules, consistently applied, enabling the use of European data," the letter said.

Meta And Spotify Blast EU Decisions On AI

A group of companies including Meta and Spotify blasted the European Union Thursday for its "fragmented and inconsistent" decision-making on data privacy and artificial intelligence (AI). The firms along with several researchers and industry bodies signed an open letter claiming that Europe was already becoming less competitive and risked falling further behind in the age of AI. The signatories called for "harmonised, consistent, quick and clear decisions" from data privacy regulators to "enable European data to be used in AI training for the benefit of Europeans". The letter takes issue with recent decisions under the 2018 general data protection regulation (GDPR). Meta, which owns Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, recently halted plans to harvest data from European users to train its AI models after pressure from privacy regulators. "In recent times, regulatory decision making has become fragmented and unpredictable, while interventions by the European Data Protection Authorities have created huge uncertainty about what kinds of data can be used to train AI models," said the letter. A European Commission spokesperson said at the time that all companies in the EU were expected to abide by data privacy rules. Meta has faced record fines for breaching the privacy of users, including a single penalty of more than one billion euros under GDPR. As well as data privacy rules, Europe became the first regional bloc to frame major legislation aiming to stop abuses of the technology -- its AI Act coming into force earlier this year. Meta and other tech giants have increasingly delayed products for the European market, claiming they were seeking legal clarity. Meta delayed the EU-wide release of its Twitter alternative Threads by several months last year. Google has similarly held back the release of AI tools in the EU.

Mark Zuckerberg says Europe needs more consistent AI regulation -- and even his privacy nemesis agrees

Leading technology executives, including Meta's Mark Zuckerberg, Spotify's Daniel Ek, and Stripe's Patrick Collison, have written an open letter slamming Europe for its "fragmented and inconsistent" regulation of data privacy and artificial intelligence. The block will "miss out" on the benefits of AI unless it regulates the sector more consistently, a wide-ranging group of CEOs and researchers wrote in the letter published Thursday. It called for decisions from data privacy regulators across the EU to be faster, clearer, and more harmonized "to enable European data to be used in AI training for the benefit of Europeans." Leaders of European industrial titans like the German steel producer Thyssenkrupp and Italian tire-maker Pirelli also signed the letter. The letter highlights the plight of companies that are developing open-source AI models, along with the data-processing restrictions that Meta says are stopping it from rolling out AI applications in the region. The letter echoes arguments that Zuckenberg and Ek made in an op-ed in the Economist last month. The latest missive is likely to add to an on-going debate about Europe's sluggish economic growth and poor productivity that has grown to a fever pitch in the past few weeks following the publication of a major report into European competitiveness, written by Mario Draghi, former European Central Bank president. Draghi said the AI revolution gave Europe a chance to "redress its failings in innovation and productivity and to restore its manufacturing potential." Draghi recommended that EU companies pool their data for open-source model training, but warned that limitations on data storage and processing stand in the way. Meta's difficulty in rolling out its AI assistant in Europe makes for a useful case study here. Like many companies these days, Meta has been exploiting its users' publicly posted data (as opposed to private posts and messages) to train its AI models. It paused that practice in the EU and U.K. in June, following complaints privacy activists made to European data protection authorities. Those activists say that, under the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Meta doesn't have a secure legal basis for using Europeans' data to train AI models. (The U.K. still uses an almost identical copy of the GDPR, even after Brexit.) They also claim that Meta is flouting the GDPR's restrictions on "purpose limitation" -- essentially, that it can't repurpose Facebook and Instagram users' data for AI training because that's not what those users signed up for years ago. Meta last week resumed its U.K. AI rollout after assuring that country's regulator that it would make it easier for users to opt out of their data being used as training fodder, but it still hasn't received full U.K. approval for its training -- the watchdog continues to watch. And in Europe, the pause seems set to continue indefinitely. Meta isn't the only company that's had to stop training its models on Europeans' personal data, to comply with data-protection law. Elon Musk's X has done the same and Microsoft's LinkedIn isn't even trying to train its models on European users' data, though those companies have decided to keep offering their AI in Europe nonetheless. Meta's stance is that, if its models can't be trained to understand Europe-specific idioms, knowledge and culture, the deployment isn't worth it. Meta says the inconsistency it is facing comes in two forms. First, the company says that different European data protection authorities have issued conflicting guidance about the use of personal data for AI training. On this, even Meta's arch privacy nemesis agrees. "They are absolutely right that there are conflicting views from the DPAs," said Max Schrems, the Austrian activist lawyer whose anti-Meta privacy crusade has given the company numerous nightmares over the last decade, and whose NGO issued the complaints that led to Meta's European AI pause. "There are also guidelines by the DPAs that just structurally don't understand how LLMs work...so the criticism is somewhat legitimate." But Meta also claims that it's been picked on unfairly, as many other companies have also been using public internet data to train their models. "AI training is not unique to our services, and we're more transparent than many of our industry counterparts," Meta griped in June, when its rollout plans hit the buffers. For some of the other signatories of Wednesday's open letter, the issue seems to be more about perceived threats to Europe's overall competitiveness than risks to their specific operations. For example, one of the signing CEOs was Ericsson's Börje Ekholm. The Swedish networking equipment manufacturer declined to give any comments to Fortune about problems that Ericsson itself is experiencing, due to the way AI is currently regulated. Instead, Ericsson pointed to a LinkedIn post by Ekholm, warning that "the U.S, China and India are sprinting ahead to embrace AI innovation while Europe lags behind in the dust, barely at crawling pace."

Spotify, Meta and others blast EU's decision-making on AI and data privacy

The firms along with several researchers and industry bodies signed an open letter claiming that Europe was already becoming less competitive and risked falling further behind in the age of AI. The signatories called for "harmonised, consistent, quick and clear decisions" from data privacy regulators to "enable European data to be used in AI training for the benefit of Europeans". The letter takes issue with recent decisions under the 2018 general data protection regulation (GDPR). Meta, which owns Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, recently halted plans to harvest data from European users to train its AI models after pressure from privacy regulators. "In recent times, regulatory decision making has become fragmented and unpredictable, while interventions by the European Data Protection Authorities have created huge uncertainty about what kinds of data can be used to train AI models," said the letter. A European Commission spokesperson said at the time that all companies in the EU were expected to abide by data privacy rules. Meta has faced record fines for breaching the privacy of users, including a single penalty of more than one billion euros under GDPR. As well as data privacy rules, Europe became the first regional bloc to frame major legislation aiming to stop abuses of the technology -- its AI Act coming into force earlier this year. Meta and other tech giants have increasingly delayed products for the European market, claiming they were seeking legal clarity. Meta delayed the EU-wide release of its Twitter alternative Threads by several months last year. Google has similarly held back the release of AI tools in the EU.

Facebook parent Meta, Spotify, Ericsson and other tech giants to EU: "Europe now risks falling further behind in..." - Times of India

Facebook's parent company Meta, along with other prominent tech players like Spotify and Ericsson, have issued a cautionary message to the European Union (EU). They have said that the EU's current technology regulations may hinder the region from fully reaping the potential advantages of artificial intelligence (AI). The Wall Street Journal reports that in an open letter, executives from more than two dozen companies said AI can boost productivity and expand the economy but Europe might reap fewer rewards than other countries. "Europe has become less competitive and less innovative compared to other regions and it now risks falling further behind in the AI era due to inconsistent regulatory decision making," the letter said, which included signatories from representatives from German software company SAP and German industrial group Thyssenkrupp, along with researchers and civil-society and trade groups. What the EU has to say As per the report, the European Commission - EU's executive body - said that it is working to support AI innovation, adding that the EU's incoming justice commissioner is expected to make sure that the bloc's data protection law responds to both law enforcement and commercial needs. Meta, Apple not launching AI features in EU The letter comes soon after Meta and Apple announced that the AI features on their platforms and devices will not be available in Europe because of the bloc's regulations. Recently, Apple said that its new AI system, called Apple Intelligence, will not be available for European iPhone users this year because of what it said were uncertainties caused by a new digital-competition law. Meanwhile, Meta said in July that it will not release a future multimodal AI model in the EU in the near term because of "the unpredictable nature of the European regulatory environment." The TOI Tech Desk is a dedicated team of journalists committed to delivering the latest and most relevant news from the world of technology to readers of The Times of India. TOI Tech Desk's news coverage spans a wide spectrum across gadget launches, gadget reviews, trends, in-depth analysis, exclusive reports and breaking stories that impact technology and the digital universe. Be it how-tos or the latest happenings in AI, cybersecurity, personal gadgets, platforms like WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and more; TOI Tech Desk brings the news with accuracy and authenticity.

Meta and Spotify blast EU decisions on AI

This picture taken on April 27, 2023, in Toulouse, southwestern France, shows a screen displaying the Meta logo and the European flag. -- AFP file A group of companies including Meta and Spotify blasted the European Union Thursday for its "fragmented and inconsistent" decision-making on data privacy and artificial intelligence (AI). The firms along with several researchers and industry bodies signed an open letter claiming that Europe was already becoming less competitive and risked falling further behind in the age of AI. The signatories called for "harmonised, consistent, quick and clear decisions" from data privacy regulators to "enable European data to be used in AI training for the benefit of Europeans". The letter takes issue with recent decisions under the 2018 general data protection regulation (GDPR). Meta, which owns Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, recently halted plans to harvest data from European users to train its AI models after pressure from privacy regulators. "In recent times, regulatory decision making has become fragmented and unpredictable, while interventions by the European Data Protection Authorities have created huge uncertainty about what kinds of data can be used to train AI models," said the letter. A European Commission spokesperson said at the time that all companies in the EU were expected to abide by data privacy rules. Meta has faced record fines for breaching the privacy of users, including a single penalty of more than one billion euros under GDPR. As well as data privacy rules, Europe became the first regional bloc to frame major legislation aiming to stop abuses of the technology -- its AI Act coming into force earlier this year. Meta and other tech giants have increasingly delayed products for the European market, claiming they were seeking legal clarity. Meta delayed the EU-wide release of its Twitter alternative Threads by several months last year.

Meta, Spotify blast EU decisions on AI

PARIS (AFP) - A group of companies including Meta and Spotify blasted the European Union (EU) on Thursday for its "fragmented and inconsistent" decision-making on data privacy and artificial intelligence (AI). The firms along with several researchers and industry bodies signed an open letter claiming that Europe was already becoming less competitive and risked falling further behind in the age of AI. The signatories called for "harmonised, consistent, quick and clear decisions" from data privacy regulators to "enable European data to be used in AI training for the benefit of Europeans". The letter takes issue with recent decisions under the 2018 general data protection regulation (GDPR). Meta, which owns Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, recently halted plans to harvest data from European users to train its AI models after pressure from privacy regulators. "In recent times, regulatory decision making has become fragmented and unpredictable, while interventions by the European Data Protection Authorities have created huge uncertainty about what kinds of data can be used to train AI models," said the letter. A European Commission spokesperson said at the time that all companies in the EU were expected to abide by data privacy rules. Meta has faced record fines for breaching the privacy of users, including a single penalty of more than EUR1 billion under GDPR. As well as data privacy rules, Europe became the first regional bloc to frame major legislation aiming to stop abuses of the technology - its AI Act coming into force earlier this year. Meta and other tech giants have increasingly delayed products for the European market, claiming they were seeking legal clarity. Meta delayed the EU-wide release of its Twitter alternative Threads by several months last year.

Zuckerberg and Other CEOs Ask EU to Change Data Privacy Rules For AI

Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg and the CEOs of other firms including Spotify and Publicis published an open letter Thursday, asking EU authorities to come up with a "modern interpretation" of the region's consumer data protection rules or risk harming artificial intelligence development. Meta paid to publish the letter as an ad in newspapers such as the Financial Times. EU rules such as