Meta, Spotify CEOs slap down European officials for ‘stifling’ AI innovation

Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Spotify’s CEO Daniek Ek have taken aim at European lawmakers for enforcing “stifling” and “inconsistent” regulation that hampers the growth of tech companies.

“Instead of clear rules that inform and guide how companies do business across the continent, our industry faces overlapping regulations and inconsistent guidance on how to comply with them,” wrote the pair in an op-ed Wednesday. “Without urgent action, Europe will miss this once-in-a-generation opportunity.”   

That opportunity, of course, is the rise of artificial intelligence. More specifically, open-source AI — like Meta’s Llama LLM — released publicly under a licence. Europe, with its vast pool of open-source developers, is uniquely positioned to thrive in this space.  

Yet, regulatory inconsistencies, like those in the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), are hampering AI development and deployment, say the tech billionaires.

They use the example of the EU forcing Meta to delay training its LLMs on content from Facebook and Instagram users in the bloc over privacy concerns.

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“Delaying the use of data that is routinely used in other regions means the most powerful AI models won’t reflect the collective knowledge, culture, and languages of Europe — and Europeans won’t get to use the latest AI products,” wrote Zuckerberg and Ek.  

At the time, Austrian non-profit Noyb criticised Meta’s framing of the delay as a collective punishment. “Meta could roll out AI technology in Europe, if it would just bother to ask people to agree, but it seems Meta is doing everything it can to never get opt-in consent for any processing,” it said. 

While Meta is perhaps exaggerating in this case, the fact that European innovation is lagging behind is undeniable. While Spotify, currently valued at $68bn, has been hugely successful, it’s the exception rather than the rule. Almost all of the world’s most valuable startups are based in the US and Asia.   

“Europe needs a new approach, with clearer policies and more consistent enforcement,” said the two founders. “Combined with the right ambition and some of the world’s top AI talent, the EU would have a real chance of leading the next generation of tech innovation.”