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European firms in panic over EU's AI Act, 44 CEOs urge Brussels to pause the law
The Chief Executives of top European companies, including Airbus and BNP Paribas, are urging the European Union (EU) to halt its landmark legislation regulating Artificial Intelligence (AI). The letter is coming at a time when the regional body is already considering watering down some of the key elements of the law.
It is pertinent to note that the legislation is due to come into effect in August. In an open letter obtained by the Financial Times, the heads of 44 major firms on the continent called on European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to introduce a two-year pause on the Act. The CEOs warned that some of the regulations are unclear and overlapping and can threaten the bloc's competitiveness in the global AI race.
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The letter noted that the EU's complex rules put 'Europe's AI ambitions at risk, as it jeopardises not only the development of European champions, but also the ability of all industries to deploy AI at the scale required by global competition.' According to The Financial Times, co-signatories also included the chiefs of French retailer Carrefour and Dutch healthcare group Philips.
EU facing pressure
The regional bloc has been facing intense pressure from the US government and Big Tech, as well as European groups, over its AI Act. With the passing of the act earlier this year, the group was considered the world's strictest regime regulating the development of fast-developing technology.
In light of this, Brussels held a crunch meeting with big US tech groups on Wednesday to discuss a new, softened draft of its regulations. The current debate revolves around the drafting of a 'code of practice', which will guide AI companies on how to implement the act that applies to powerful AI models such as Google's Gemini, Meta's Llama and OpenAI's GPT-4.
However, Brussels has already delayed publishing the code, which was due in May and is now expected to water down the rules. The EU's tech chief, Henna Virkkunen, on Monday said Brussels is finalising the code of practice ahead of the August deadline. 'We will publish the code of practice before that to support our industry and SMEs to comply with our AI Act'.
'This is a classic example of regulitis that doesn't take into account the most important thing for industry, which is legal certainty', said Patrick Van Eecke, co-chair of law firm Cooley's global cyber, data and privacy practice.
According to The Financial Times, the letter from CEOs was organised by the EU AI Champions Initiative — a body representing 110 companies on the continent across industries — said a postponement would send 'innovators and investors around the world a strong signal that Europe is serious about its simplification and competitiveness agenda.'
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Meanwhile, there is also a separate joint letter signed by more than 30 European AI start-up founders and investors this week, which called the legislation 'a rushed ticking time bomb'. Hence, it will be interesting to see how the EU will respond to the letter.
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