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Dozens of Europe’s biggest companies, including Germany’s Siemens and France’s Airbus, oppose the EU’s proposed artificial intelligence regulation, saying the rule risks hurting competitiveness but fails to address potential challenges are raising their voices.
In an open letter signed by more than 150 executives, the companies told European institutions that AI offers an “opportunity to rejoin the cutting edge of technology” but that overly restrictive regulations could hold back that opportunity. Stated.
In a letter to the European Commission, parliament and member states on Friday, it said: “In our assessment, this bill does not effectively address the current and future challenges facing Europe, but rather strengthens Europe’s competitiveness and technological sovereignty. will be endangered,” he said.
After nearly two years of wrangling, EU politicians recently agreed on the world’s toughest rules for AI. The draft Artificial Intelligence Law will serve as a bargaining position between Member States and the European Commission.
Meanwhile, concerns about the potential risks of rapidly evolving technology have grown and regulatory demands have risen since November when OpenAI launched one of the first widely available consumer AI applications, the chatbot ChatGPT. is rising.
Signatories from automaker Renault to Heineken, the world’s second-largest beer company, said their concerns about generative AI were particularly acute. They added that the proposed rule would “tightly” regulate the underlying model, the technology behind chatbots, “regardless of the use case.”
Companies developing and implementing such systems will face unwarranted compliance costs and legal liability risks, the letter said. Such restrictions could lead to companies leaving the EU, investors pulling out of AI development in Europe, and creating a “significant productivity gap” with the United States.
“Europe cannot afford to remain on the sidelines,” the letter said. Brussels regulators need to enact legislation that is limited to “broad principles in a risk-based approach” rather than focusing on generative AI and enforcing “strict compliance”.
Far from fostering innovation, the rule risks undermining Block’s technological ambitions, the letter said.
The companies called on the EU to set up a regulatory body of industry experts to oversee law enforcement as technology advances.
European MP Dragos Tudlache, who led the drafting of the bill, said in a letter that the signatories did not appear to have read the text and were reacting “based on a few stimuli”.
“It’s a shame that a small number of aggressive lobbyists are taking over other serious companies,” he said. This “unfortunately undermines the undeniable leadership that Europe has taken globally on regulation.”
Tudratche said the only “concrete” proposals the companies put forward in the letter were those proposed by the European Parliament: an “industry-led standards-definition process, industry-involved governance and demand It is a light regulatory system that asks questions.” for transparency. nothing else. ”
