OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman has warned that Brussels’ efforts to regulate AI could lead to ChatGPT’s maker withdrawing its service from the European Union, in the clearest sign of a growing transatlantic rift over how to control the technology sign.
Altman told reporters during a visit to London this week that he had “a lot of concerns” about the EU’s planned artificial intelligence bill, which is due to be finalized next year. In particular, he pointed to the European Parliament’s move this month to expand its proposed regulations to include the latest wave of general artificial intelligence techniques, including large language models such as OpenAI’s GPT-4.
“The details really matter,” Altman said. “We will try to comply, but if we cannot comply, we will cease operations.”
Altman’s warning comes as U.S. tech companies brace for what some predict will be a protracted battle with European regulators over a technology that has shaken up the industry this year. Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai also visited European capitals this week, trying to influence policymakers as they draw up “guardrails” to regulate AI.
The EU’s AI bill was originally designed to deal with specific, high-risk uses of AI, such as its use in regulated products such as medical devices, or when companies use it in important decision-making, including making loans and hiring decisions .
However, the furore caused by the launch of ChatGPT late last year has prompted a rethink, and this month the European Parliament introduced additional rules for widely used systems with general application beyond the previously targeted cases. The proposal still needs to be negotiated with member states and the European Commission before the law comes into force in 2025.
The latest plan will require makers of “base models” — the large systems that power services like ChatGPT — to identify and try to mitigate the risks their technology might pose in a broad range of environments. The new requirements will make the companies that develop the models, including OpenAI and Google, partly responsible for how their AI systems are used, even if they have no control over the specific applications that embed the technology.
The latest rules would also force tech companies to release summaries of the copyrighted data used to train their AI models, opening the way for artists and others to try to claim use of their material.
Christian Berggreen, European head of the Washington-based Computer and Communications Industry Association, said trying to regulate generative AI when the technology was still in its infancy showed “fear from lawmakers who read the headlines like everyone else.” He added , before reacting “knee-knee” to ChatGPT, US tech companies backed an earlier EU AI regulation plan.
U.S. tech firms have urged Brussels to be more cautious in regulating the latest artificial intelligence, arguing that Europe should take longer to study the technology and figure out how to balance the opportunities and risks.
Pichai met with officials in Brussels on Wednesday to discuss AI policy, including top MEPs responsible for the AI bill, Brando Benifei and Dragoş Tudorache. Pichai emphasized the need for proper regulation of technologies that don’t stifle innovation, according to three people who attended the meetings.
Pichai also met with Thierry Breton, the EU digital chief who oversees the AI bill. Breton told the Financial Times that they discussed introducing an “AI Covenant” – an informal set of guidelines for AI companies to adhere to before formal rules come into force – because “there is an urgent need to create a safe environment in the AI race”. online environment”.
U.S. critics claim the EU’s AI bill will impose broad new responsibilities to control risks from the latest artificial intelligence systems, while failing to set specific standards by which they are expected to meet.
Peter Schwartz, senior vice president of strategic planning at software company Salesforce, said that while it was too early to predict the actual effect, the openness of the law could cause some U.S. tech companies to reconsider their involvement in Europe.
He added that Brussels “will act as before without reference to reality” and that with no European company leading the way in advanced artificial intelligence, EU politicians have little incentive to support the industry’s growth. “It’s basically going to be European regulators policing American companies, just like the whole IT era.”
Alex Engler, a fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, said that if the European proposals lead to a “continued requirement for companies to keep up with the latest research[on AI safety]and the need to continually identify and mitigate risks, then They will prove feasible”. “Some ambiguities can be filled in later by the EC and standards bodies.”
While the law appears to target only large systems like ChatGPT and Google’s Bard chatbot, it has the potential to “crack down on open-source models and nonprofit uses” of the latest artificial intelligence, Engler said.
Executives from OpenAI and Google have said in recent days that they support eventual regulation of artificial intelligence, even as they called for further investigation and debate.
Kent Walker, President of Google Global Affairs, explain In a blog post last week, the company backed setting standards and reaching a broad policy agreement on AI, as is being done in the U.S., U.K. and Singapore — while deliberately avoiding comment on the European Union, which has struggled with adoption. Go the furthest with specific rules.
The political timetable means Brussels may choose to move forward with its current proposals rather than try to hammer out more specific rules as generative AI develops, Engler said. He added that taking longer to perfect the AI bill would risk delaying it beyond the current EU presidency, which could put the whole plan back on the drawing board.