Meta to Spurn EU’s Voluntary AI Safety Pledge Ahead of New Law

Gian Volpicelli

Tue, Sep 24, 2024, 9:31 AM2 min read

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(Bloomberg) -- Meta Platforms Inc. is spurning the European Union’s voluntary artificial intelligence safety pledge that’s planned as a stopgap measure before the bloc’s AI Act rules take full force in 2027.

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Meta could join the so-called AI Pact initiative at a later stage, a spokesperson for the company said by email on Tuesday.

Meta’s position contrasts with Microsoft Corp. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google, which both confirmed through spokespeople that they will sign the pledge. The company stands out from its Big Tech peers because its AI model, Llama, has open source features that are designed to be repurposed by users with relatively little control from the developer. That could make it more difficult to comply with requirements to map risks with the tools.

France’s open-source AI startup Mistral, which in June reached a €5.8 billion ($6.5 billion) valuation, will not sign it, according to a spokesperson.

The EU is seeking to set standards for regulating the fast-developing field of AI, while not stifling innovation in the emerging technology and risk ceding the industry to US firms. The non-binding pledge asks developers to comply with the key obligations of the AI Act before they become law.

Companies that sign it will commit to follow a list of practices that mirror the AI Act’s principles, including charting whether their AI tools are likely to be deployed in “high-risk” situations, such as education, employment or policing. The EU’s executive branch, the European Commission, will unveil the full list of signatories on Wednesday.

The AI Pact is not legally binding, and companies won’t face any consequences for not signing. Those that do could avoid potential clashes with the EU, which has been known to name and shame technology companies that spurn its voluntary initiatives.

Elon Musk’s Twitter Inc. – later renamed X – left the EU’s non-binding anti-disinformation code of practice in 2023. Thierry Breton, who was the bloc’s tech chief at the time, quipped “you can run but you can’t hide” in a tweet.

Companies that join the pact will “build trust among customers, investors, and regulators,” said Ceyhun Pehlivan, co-lead of tech and intellectual property in the Linklaters’ law practice in Madrid. Holdouts might “face peer pressure and risk being singled out for not joining,” he added.

Meta in July announced it would delay the introduction of its next generation of models in the EU “due to the unpredictable nature of the European regulatory environment.”