Microsoft most likely to sign EU’s guidelines for GPAI
Microsoft will most likely sign the European Union’s guidelines for providers of general-purpose AI (GPAI) models to help companies comply with the EU’s AI Act.
The AI Act, the world’s first comprehensive law on artificial intelligence, went into effect in Europe in August 2024. The objective is to restrict the use of AI technology in Europe to safeguard fundamental civil rights such as privacy and to prevent potential dangers like discrimination and exclusion.
The guidelines for providers of general-purpose AI (GPAI) models, which were presented by the European Commission last Friday, aim to gather as many tech companies as possible to say they will honor the contents of the code to provide legal certainty. Among other things, the signatories will have to publish summaries of the content they used to train their general-purpose AI models.
Brad Smith, Vice Chair and President at Microsoft, said that his company will most likely sign the document. “Our goal is to find a way to be supportive and at the same time one of the things we really welcome is the direct engagement by the AI Office with industry,” he told press agency Reuters.
Meta, on the other hand, refuses to sign the EU’s guidelines, suggesting it’s “the wrong path.”
“We have carefully reviewed the European Commission’s 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,” Meta’s Chief Global Affairs Officer Joel Kaplan wrote in a post on LinkedIn.
“We share concerns raised by these businesses that this over-reach will throttle the development and deployment of frontier AI models in Europe, and stunt European companies looking to build businesses on top of them,” he added.
Back in June, the Computer and Communications Industry Association Europe (CCIA), an international not-for-profit association representing a broad section of tech companies, requested the EU to temporarily pause the implementation of the AI Act.
“Europe cannot lead on AI with one foot on the brake. With critical parts of the AI Act still missing just weeks before rules kick in, we need a pause to get the Act right, or risk stalling innovation altogether,” Daniel Friedlaender, Europe’s Senior Vice President and Head of Office at the CCIA, said in a statement.