Meta has refused to sign the European Union’s code of practice for its AI Act, weeks before the bloc’s rules for providers of general-purpose AI models take effect. TechCrunch reported.
“Europe is heading down the wrong path on AI,” wrote Meta’s chief global affairs officer Joel Kaplan in a post on LinkedIn. “We have carefully reviewed the European Commissions Code of Practice for general-purpose AI (GPAI) models and Meta won’t be signing it. 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.”
The EU’s code of practice — a voluntary framework published earlier this month — aims to help companies implement processes and systems to comply with the bloc’s legislation for regulating AI.
Among other things, the code requires companies to provide and regularly update documentation about their AI tools and services; bans developers from training AI on pirated content; and comply with the content owners’ requests to not use their works in their data sets.
CNBC reported: Meta Platforms declined to sign the European Union’s artificial intelligence code of practice because it is an overreach that will “stunt” companies, according to global affairs chief Joel Kaplan.
Last week, the European Commission, the executive body of the EU, published a final iteration of its code for general purpose AI models, leaving it up to companies to decide if they want to sign.
The rules, which go into effect next month, create a framework for complying with the AI Act passed by European lawmakers last year. It aims to improve transparency and safety surrounding the technology.
Meta isn’t the first company to stand up against Europe’s new AI rulebook.
ASML Holding and Airbus were among the signatories in a recent letter that called on the EU to delay the code for two years. Last week, OpenAI committed to signing the code of practice.
“We share concerns raised by these businesses that this over-reach will throttle development and deployment of frontier AI models in Europe, and stunt European companies looking to build businesses on top of them.”
Politico reported: Meta just blew a giant hole in a European Union plan to tame artificial intelligence models. The technology giant on Friday was the first Big Tech company to come out saying it will not sign the EU’s code of practice for general-purpose AI.
In a comment on Friday, Meta’s chief global affairs officer Joel Kaplan said the code “introduce a number of legal uncertainties for model developers as well as measures which go far beyond the scope of the AI Act.”
At its core, the EU’s code of practice is an attempt by officials to get AI firms to follow the bloc’s rules without having to launch full-fledged investigations.