Meta will not be signing the European Union’s voluntary code of practice connected to the upcoming AI Act. This announcement comes just weeks before the EU’s new rules for general-purpose AI systems are set to come into force.
Joel Kaplan, Meta’s head of global affairs, announced the move in a LinkedIn post, stating that the company will not endorse the EU’s Code of Practice for general-purpose AI (GPAI) models. He argued that the code brings with it unclear legal demands for developers and goes beyond what the actual AI Act requires.
According to Kaplan, “Europe is heading in the wrong direction with AI,” and the code introduces complications that may hinder progress for developers and companies.
The Code of Practice, which the European Commission introduced earlier this month, is not mandatory. Instead, it’s designed to help organizations prepare for and align with the broader AI Act. Under the code, companies are expected to maintain detailed documentation about their AI systems and update the information regularly. They’re also restricted from using illegally sourced content to train their models and must respect copyright holders’ requests to keep their work out of training datasets.
Kaplan criticized the EU’s approach, calling it excessive and potentially damaging for innovation. He said that the rules, as they stand, will make it harder to create and launch advanced AI technologies in the European market. This could, in his view, hurt local startups and businesses that rely on these tools for growth.
The AI Act itself follows a risk-based model. It bans uses of AI deemed to pose “unacceptable” risks, such as systems designed to manipulate behavior or assign social scores to individuals. It also outlines stricter requirements for AI applications considered “high risk,” like those used in facial recognition, hiring, or education. Developers working in these areas must register their systems and follow rules for managing risks and ensuring quality.
Despite pushback from major tech companies like Mistral AI, Meta, and Alphabet, the European Commission has stood firm on its schedule.
The EU also released further guidance for AI developers last Friday, ahead of the new rules taking effect on August 2. The updated guidelines will apply to developers of general-purpose AI models considered to have systemic risk, including those from OpenAI, Google, Meta, and Anthropic. Providers of such systems already on the market must fully comply with the rules by August 2027.
Tech firms like D-Wave Quantum Inc. (NYSE: QBTS) will also be assessing the AI code and the code of practice to see how those provisions could impact their market plans.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to D-Wave Quantum Inc. (NYSE: QBTS) are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/QBTS
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