More than 160 executives from various companies, including Renault and Meta, have signed an open letter expressing concerns that the proposed European Union (EU) Artificial Intelligence (AI) legislation would harm Europe’s competitiveness and technological sovereignty. The draft rules agreed upon by EU lawmakers require systems like ChatGPT to disclose AI-generated content, identify deep-fake images, and implement safeguards against illegal content. While ChatGPT’s popularity has prompted calls for AI regulation, previous open letters by prominent figures like Elon Musk, Sam Altman, Geoffrey Hinton, and Yoshua Bengio have raised concerns about the risks associated with AI.
The recent letter challenges the EU regulations and is signed by executives from companies such as Cellnex, Mirakl, and Berenberg, in addition to Renault and Meta. The signatories argue against the EU Parliament’s move from a risk-based approach to a technology-based approach in the legislation, citing concerns about heavy regulations on technologies like generative AI, high compliance costs, and disproportionate liability risks. They warn that such regulations could lead to innovative companies relocating their activities outside of Europe and investors withdrawing capital from European AI development.
Cedric O, former digital minister of France, Jeannette zu Fürstenberg, founding partner of La Famiglia VC, and René Obermann, Airbus chairman, organized the open letter. They emphasize that the proposed regulations could stifle European AI development and drive companies and investors away. However, Dragos Tudorache, one of the co-drafters of the EU proposals, stated that the suggestions made in the letter are already included in the draft legislation, and he believes the concerns stem from a lack of careful reading and understanding of the text. OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, previously expressed concerns about complying with upcoming AI laws but later clarified that the company has no plans to exit Europe.
