Meta isn’t playing ball with the EU on the AI Act

Meta has said it won't sign up for the EU's code of practice for providers of general-purpose AI models, citing concerns over "legal uncertainties".

The voluntary guidelines form part of the EU AI Act, due to come into force next month. They ask companies to, amongst other things, refrain from training AI on pirated materials and comply with requests from content creators to omit their work from training data.

As part of the rules, providers are also required to issue regular updates on AI tools and services.

While the code is voluntary, the EU has said that AI providers who don't sign up will be expected to demonstrate compliance by other means, and might face more regulatory scrutiny.

Meta has hit back at lawmakers, however, accusing the EU of overreach.

"Europe is heading down the wrong path on AI. We have carefully reviewed the European Commission’s Code of Practice for general-purpose AI (GPAI) models and Meta won’t be signing it," wrote chief global affairs officer Joel Kaplan in a post on LinkedIn.

"This Code introduces a number of legal uncertainties for model developers, as well as measures which go far beyond the scope of the AI Act."

Meta has history with the EU

Meta has been complaining about the AI Act for a while. Last summer, Mark Zuckerberg and Spotify CEO Daniel Ek issued a joint statement saying that "Europe’s risk-averse, complex regulation could prevent it from capitalizing on the big bets that can translate into big rewards."

The tech giant has support from US president Donald Trump on the issue, who has called for the AI Act to be paused - although the EU appears to be standing firm.

Henna Virkkunen, the European Commission vice-president responsible for tech sovereignty, recently said lawmakers are "very committed to our rules when it comes to the digital world".

Earlier this month, companies including Google, Meta, Airbus, BNP Paribas, and TotalEnergies called for a two-year delay in implementation, claiming that as it stands, the AI Act will stifle innovation.

"Businesses and policymakers across Europe have spoken out against this regulation. Earlier this month, over 40 of Europe’s largest businesses signed a letter calling for the Commission to ‘Stop the Clock’ in its implementation," said Kaplan.

"We share concerns raised by these businesses that this over-reach will throttle the development and deployment of frontier AI models in Europe, and stunt European companies looking to build businesses on top of them."

OpenAI and Mistral have already signed the code - although the latter has voiced concerns about the impact of the legislation.

"Compliance with the Code and the AI Act’s risk based framework must be as simple and streamlined as possible for the homegrown start-ups and smaller businesses that will be the future leaders of Europe’s AI-first economy," said OpenAI in a statement.

"We have advocated⁠ for greater simplification and harmonization to support these next generation companies and will continue to back their concerns, as they are key to AI of, by and for Europe."

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