OpenAI is an artificial intelligence research laboratory founded in 2015 with the aim of advancing digital intelligence. It is supported by Microsoft, and the CEO of the organization is Sam Altman. Recently he has been vocal about the need for new regulations about AI technologies and the progress of OpenAI’s ChatGPT. He warned that OpenAI may pull out of the European Union (EU) if the bloc places excessive regulations and is too overbearing. He did not visit Brussels, where the EU is currently developing the EU AI Act which is expected to be the first global set of regulations for AI technology.
Sam Altman proposed that the current draft of the EU AI Act is overly restrictive but he suggested that it might be revised. EU lawmakers however, contradicted Altman’s statement, indicating that there are no plans to dilute the regulations. Dutch MEP Kim van Sparrentak stated that European countries should not be subject to ultimatums from American companies and that OpenAI must comply with fundamental requirements regarding data governance, transparency, safety, and security if it wants to be suitable for the European market. In March, Italy’s data regulator, Garante, shut down the ChatGPT app for allegedly violating European privacy regulations.
EU lawmakers have recently introduced additional proposals to the AI Act concerning the use of copyrighted material for training AI models with greater transparency requirements. Negotiations between the European Commission, Parliament, and member states will decide the final details of the bill, which is expected to pass later this year. Despite that, European lawmaker Sergey Lagodinsky acknowledged Altman’s attempts to influence individual countries but emphasized that Brussels’ plans to regulate the technology are still progressing.
