OpenAI CEO's threat to quit EU draws lawmaker backlash

https://www.reuters.com/technology/openai-ceos-threat-quit-eu-draws-lawmaker-backlash-2023-05-25/

by mfiguiere • 3 years ago

49 47 3 years ago

reuters.com

jacquesm3• 3 years ago

That bluff deserves to be called.

umeshunni• 3 years ago

In both directions

jacquesm3• 3 years ago

I'm perfectly fine with that. It's not as if OpenAI is going to be the sole supplier even if they have a head start today.

pipes• 3 years ago

If the wheel was invented today we'd ban it before it put sedan chair workers at risk.

leobg• 3 years ago

I’m wondering if OpenAI will even be still relevant once this legislation is in place.

I’m not convinced that they won’t. But I think it’s also not a certainty anymore, with all these amazing breakthroughs coming out every week or so.

exeldapp• 3 years ago

Sounds like his talking backfired.

"We need to regulate AI! No, not that much!"

There's no way OpenAI will quit EU and leave it for competitors to take, easy bluff to call. The whole thing makes it seem like the desire for AI-related regulation isn't ethics motivated and is instead only trying to make it harder for competition to start.

jacquesm3• 3 years ago

Precisely, it's a very transparent attempt at regulatory capture. Utterly disgusting.

skybrian• 3 years ago

Bard isn’t available in the EU or Canada, so there’s one competitor they don’t need to worry about. That doesn’t seem to be a bluff?

Perhaps people will learn to use VPN’s like some US folks did for cryptocurrency exchanges? Or maybe it will be a boost for an open source project that gets a reputation for reliability. (Well, reliable for an AI chatbot, which is not very reliable by most standards.)

rlayton2• 3 years ago

For all of Microsoft's flaws, they typically are good at working with regulators and ticking the boxes needed to get into a market like EU. It's unsurprising that Bard isn't there yet, as the whole field has moved at "faster than large corp/government" speeds but I don't imagine MS will stay out of those markets for long.

usernew2• 3 years ago

What exactly does "quit EU" mean. They make an app that connects over the internet. Anyone including businesses, are free to use their money how they see fit by paying for a service that runs in a another country.

All the EU can do here is get rid of the business and infrastructure presence of this company in the EU. Getting rid of jobs and tax revenue. They can also do a China and prosecute their own citizens for trying to access things they want on the internet.

There doesn't need to be Any "AI-related regulation." There's nothing specific or magical or new about "AI" that's not covered by current law. What it does look like to me, is the government couldn't press some authoritarian laws, so they slapped "AI" on it to mislead and misdirect their voters.

Nothing backfired, it wasn't a shot or a bluff. It was a statement that if they pass draconian laws, their citizens will have to buy the product online with their visa card without paying VAT.

Funnily enough, the EU guy who is leading this and doubling down, is Romanian. I've had some friends from that country and been there a few times. It's not a place I would think of when I think honest regulatory body, ethics, or bleeding edge technology. It definitely is a place I think of when I imagine a peacock puffing its feathers, a tiny monkey hitting it's chest, and a drunk idiot with low IQ doubling down till the grave.

jkxyz• 3 years ago

Funnily enough, the EU guy who is leading this and doubling down, is Romanian.

What is the relevance of your personal (and poorly informed) opinions about Romanians? It’s a needlessly low blow and it’s tiring to hear the same myths perpetuated by people who have zero context on Romanian culture and life. If you do not associate Romania with honesty, morality, and innovation, then it’s because you have been misinformed.

Anyone including businesses, are free to use their money how they see fit by paying for a service that runs in a another country.

I don’t think that has ever been true in any legal jurisdiction. Every country has restrictions on trade and payments that can be made when acquiring services domestically or abroad.

cft2• 3 years ago

In EU it's not possible to develop a viable competitor due to overregulation. Where's EU's Google? Where's EU's Starlink? Where's EU's Microsoft? Where's EU's Samsung?

Serenacula• 3 years ago

Some would view the development of megacorps and monopolies a negative, rather than a positive...

danielmarkbruce2• 3 years ago

Google has threatened and left jurisdictions. It's not an easy bluff to call. If the regulation makes it practically impossible to deliver a good product, why wouldn't they leave?

htss2013• 3 years ago

If EU rules are too draconian, neither OpenAI nor their competitors has anything to gain from the EU. The only bluff to call would be if OpenAI were pretending they're too draconian when they're really not. I'll believe that bluff when EU compliant competitors popup who are on par with openAI. Thus far it hasn't happened.

jhgfjhgfjhfgjhg2• 3 years ago

Google Bard doesn't operate in the EU so your theory is unfounded.

worrycue• 3 years ago

Yet. If OpenAI quits the EU, the EU market would be for Google and others to take.

stuckinhell• 3 years ago

It's not a bluff. Silicon Valley CEO's hate european policies and are willing to remove their stuff because the Euro's homegrown tech startups are atrocious and everyone knows it.

gumballindie2• 3 years ago

One can only hope. What was he even doing talking to so many government leaders? Did he imagine they’d all fall for cheap fud and embrace copyright theft overnight?

afpx• 3 years ago

Slow down progress for 5.8 billion people so that 400 million feel protected.

lnxg33k1• 3 years ago

It's people that goes bankrupt for some medical procedure, that makes their kids get shot at school for some freedom fetish, and with a insane wealth hunting culture, as a european I would hardly care about the needs of americans or the rest of child employing wastelands

diebeforei485• 3 years ago

EU regulations are basically a full employment program for VPN engineers.

flangola7• 3 years ago

VPNs will be illegal in the US soon

JumpCrisscross• 3 years ago

VPNs will be illegal in the US soon

No, they won't.

oschvr• 3 years ago

What makes you say that ?

pkaye• 3 years ago

Does OpenAI have all the technology to implement the EU AI regulations?

june_twenty4• 3 years ago

Altman seems inexperienced for this type of role. I guess he didn't really expect OpenAI to be the leader of the AI race.

Hopefully strong competition comes along soon.

jossclimb• 3 years ago

and hopefully unlike openAI it really is open this time.

danielmarkbruce2• 3 years ago

It's easy to say that, but who would make a better candidate? It's a very weird and unique situation he/they are in. He just looks young, he's been around the block a couple times.

june_twenty4• 3 years ago

Agreed. I hope there is competition so there's not just one person, alone.

mensetmanusman• 3 years ago

Strong competition means FAANG wins.

segmondy2• 3 years ago

Do you understand that NN is not like rows in database. The machine can't unlearn what it has learned. You can't make AI unlearn something. They are going to ingest large amounts of data and trying to stop it is going to be nothing more but layering endless filter in front of it. Unfortunately or fortunately, it can be prompt broken. So if they try to abide and still fail, they will be fined enormously. See Meta & Google for example. This is about leverage. OpenAI has leverage and I'm happy to see a leader have balls. Let EU go back into the stone age if that's their wish.

gumballindie2• 3 years ago

So lets just change laws to accommodate an unethical data model from a corporation pushing techno feudalism?

june_twenty4• 3 years ago

OpenAI could roll back to a previous version of their model.

Anyway, I'm not sure if you intended that as a reply to me because it's not relevant.

anankaie2• 3 years ago

The machine can't unlearn what it has learned. You can't make AI unlearn something

This is not even remotely true: From https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catastrophic_interference:

Catastrophic interference, also known as catastrophic forgetting, is the tendency of an artificial neural network to abruptly and drastically forget previously learned information upon learning new information.

meghan_rain• 3 years ago

Regulatory capture

ittseta• 3 years ago

South Korea regulates porn sites, but the regulation shrinks the alternatives, and traffic using VPNs is maintained. Sounds similar

OpenAI CEO's threat to quit EU draws lawmaker backlash

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