Emmanuel Macron warns that the new act on artificial intelligence may hinder innovation

Emmanuel Macron has warned that landmark EU legislation to deal with the development of artificial intelligence could hamper European tech companies compared to competitors from the US, UK and China, setting the stage for a new battle over the regulation of the technology in question.

Francoski predsednik je v ponedeljek nagovoril občinstvo v Toulousu in “napadel” novi akt o umetni inteligenci, ki je bil sprejet prejšnji petek: “We can decide to regulate much faster and much more strongly than our main competitors. This will regulate things that we will no longer produce or invent. This is never a good idea.“

Macron said he was worried the new law meant the EU would impose the world's toughest regime on so-called core models. The technology behind generative AI models such as OpenAI's ChatGPT. There's probably no need to waste words on what these models can do, right?

Kot primer “francoskega genija”, ki je bil na začetku vodilni pri oblikovanju modelov umetne inteligence, je navedel primer podjetja Mistral. Osem mesecev staro zagonsko podjetje s sedežem v Parizu, ki je bilo v izjemnem krogu financiranja ocenjeno na 2 milijardi evrov.

Macron je dodal: “Če pogledam Francijo, smo verjetno prva država na področju umetne inteligence v celinski Evropi. Za petami smo Britancem. Oni ne bodo imeli te uredbe o temeljnih modelih. Predvsem pa smo vsi zelo daleč za Kitajci in Američani.”

Macron's comments may herald a new battle over the final terms of the artificial intelligence act, which must be ratified by member states in the coming weeks. France, along with Germany and Italy, are in initial discussions on efforts to amend or block the act's adoption.

“The stakes are high and the French will try to prevent it,” je dejala oseba, ki je seznanjena s tematiko. Kljub temu pa ti neimenovani viri menijo, da bo besedilo kljub nasprotovanju na koncu sprejeto.

French negotiators tried to soften the proposed rules in marathon talks last week, but in the end the bloc settled on a strict regulatory regime that introduces new transparency requirements for powerful artificial intelligence models and strict limits on the use of facial recognition technology.

Nova pravila, ki bodo verjetno začela veljati v začetku leta 2025, uvajajo tudi prepoved uporabe umetne inteligence za “socialno točkovanje”, uporabo metrik za razvrščanje ljudi na podlagi njihovega vedenja ali osebnih značilnosti. Podjetjem, ki ne bodo upoštevala nove zakonodaje, grozijo globe v višini do 7 odstotkov njihovega prometa.

“A last-minute attempt to regulate the models turned everything upside down,” je dejala Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl, CEO of DigitalEurope, an organization representing Europe's technology sector.

“Nove zahteve – poleg drugih obsežnih novih zakonov, kot je zakon o podatkih – bodo za izpolnjevanje od podjetij zahtevale veliko sredstev. Sredstev, ki jih bodo porabila za odvetnike, namesto da bi zaposlila podatkovne inženirje in podobne profile.“