EU lawmakers were furious over OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s comments that he would “leave Europe if artificial intelligence (AI) is over-regulated.” Then, less than a day later, CEO Altman changed his mind that he would not give up on Europe.
Reuters reported on the 25th (local time) that EU lawmakers involved in drafting the AI law criticized OpenAI’s approach.
“The draft AI law is not up for discussion,” said Thiers Breton, EU Markets Commissioner. This is in response to CEO Altman’s comments that “the draft EU AI law is currently over-regulated and I heard that it will be amended later.”
Dutch MP Kim van Sparentak went even further: “The EU must not be allowed to be blackmailed by American companies.” Dragos Tudora, a Romanian lawmaker, also nailed it, saying, “The AI law is unlikely to be easily weakened.”
In fact, when drafting the AI Act, the problem of handling generative AI, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, was an issue until the last minute. Some even demanded a ban on use, but an agreement was reached along the lines of transparently disclosing the copyright of learning data.
Then CEO Altman, who had protested by canceling a meeting with EU regulators, suddenly changed his words. He tweeted the same day, “We are happy to continue our service in Europe and of course we have no intention of leaving.”
Last week, he met top politicians from France, Spain, Poland, Germany and the UK to discuss the future of AI and the development of ChatGPT, but his visit to Brussels, where the EU executive is based, was canceled without reason
But he made a conciliatory gesture, saying it was “a week of very productive conversations in Europe about how best to regulate AI.”
In addition, OpenAI announced on its official blog that it would be holding an ‘AI governance idea competition’.
This includes giving $100,000 (about 132.8 million won) to anyone who comes up with an effective ‘guard rail’ idea that prevents AI bias and hallucinations. OpenAI offered 10 winners $100,000 each, with a total prize of $1 million (about KRW 1.328 billion).
“AI systems should benefit all humanity and be formed as inclusively as possible,” OpenAI said in a blog post. “We are launching this program to take the first step.”
Reporter Lim Dae-jun ydj@aitimes.com
