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“AI’s potential to drive economic growth and scientific progress is enormous, but Europe’s fragmented decision-making is putting it at risk of being left behind,” reads the open letter published in the Financial Times
A coalition of major tech companies, researchers, and institutions has issued an open letter calling on European regulators to provide clear, consistent rules for AI development to ensure the EU remains competitive in the global race for AI supremacy.
The letter, signed by CEOs and leaders from companies such as Meta, Spotify, and Ericsson, warns that fragmented and unpredictable regulation is stifling Europe’s innovation in AI, leaving it trailing behind global leaders like the US, China, and India.
“The reality is Europe has become less competitive and less innovative compared to other regions,” reads the letter, which argues the situation will only get worse without AI regulation reform.
The letter argues that without consistent regulation, the EU will “miss out” on AI and its advancements, such as in the development of open-source AI models, which integrate text, images, and speech. According to the letter, these technologies have the potential to modernise industries, increase productivity, and contribute hundreds of billions of euros to the European economy. Generative AI, for example, “could increase global GDP by 10% over the coming decade.”
“Public institutions and researchers are already using these models to speed up medical research and preserve languages, while businesses gain access to tools they could never afford to build themselves,” the letter says.
Europe is infamous for its tough regulatory landscape that places a strong emphasis on the privacy of consumer data. GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) imposes strict conditions on the collection, processing, and sharing of personal data – data which represents an invaluable training tool for nascent AI models.
Other countries, on the other hand, do not have such comprehensive laws, allowing AI companies to more freely use customer data to train their AI models. The US for example, does not have a single, comprehensive federal law governing data privacy.
Although GDPR has been a landmark in protecting user privacy, the signatories argue that its current governance means there is a lack of certainty what data can be used legally. This, in turn, is making it difficult for companies to invest in European AI, making the continent fall behind even more.
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