Roundup: Tech giants voice concern over EU's AI regulatory framework

BRUSSELS, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Executives from over 20 major tech firms on Thursday expressed their concerns over the European Union (EU)'s regulatory framework on artificial intelligence (AI) in an open letter spearheaded by Meta.

They claimed that regulatory decision-making in the region has become "fragmented and unpredictable."

They said: "Interventions by the European Data Protection Authorities have created huge uncertainty about what kinds of data can be used to train AI models."

The tech firms warned that the region faces a pivotal choice that will shape its future for decades to come.

Among the signatories were CEOs from Sweden's telecom giant Ericsson, Germany's software firm SAP, and industrial conglomerate Thyssenkrupp, along with leading researchers and scholars.

They called for "harmonized, consistent, swift, and clear decisions" under the EU's data regulations, stressing the importance of enabling European data for AI model training to benefit the region's citizens.

Meta has faced fines for violations of EU data privacy rules, including a penalty of 1.2 billion euros (1.33 billion U.S. dollars) last year under the General Data Protection Regulation.

In August, the EU became the first jurisdiction to implement comprehensive AI legislation, with its AI Act.

The new regulations, combined with previous regulatory challenges, have led some tech giants to delay product launches in the region.

Google delayed the launch of its AI chatbot Bard, now rebranded as Gemini, in the EU last year following privacy concerns raised by the bloc's primary data regulator.

Meanwhile, Meta had planned to introduce a new privacy policy in June, allowing the company to use years of users' public data to train AI models that can generate text, images, or respond to user queries. However, the launch was postponed after several EU member states raised concerns that the policy would misuse users' profile data.

Similarly, Apple postponed the launch of its new AI features in Europe, citing the need to comply with EU tech regulations that require it to ensure compatibility with rival products and services. (1 euro = 1.11 U.S. dollar) ■