AI firms lobby to support open source in upcoming EU regulations

Companies hope that EU regulations will ensure the continued development of AI in the region.

A number of tech and artificial intelligence companies, including GitHub and HuggingFace, have written to European policymakers asking them to provide more support for open-source development of artificial intelligence (AI) models, The Verge reported on July 26.

In the document, which contains a list of proposals to the European Parliament, the companies asked for clearer definitions, among other things.

Companies co-signing the document include Creative Commons, EleutherAI, LAION and Open Future.

These companies are acting to ensure that the AI bill currently being developed by EU policymakers meets the best standards for ensuring the development of AI.

The European Union is one of the regions taking AI regulation seriously, with a draft AI bill already in place, but the draft has drawn criticism from many quarters.

Most of the criticism has centered on the excessive focus on the application layer and the lack of concise definitions of AI technologies. Not surprisingly, these companies came up with clearer definitions.

Other recommendations include separating hobbyists and researchers working on open-source AI models from those for commercial profit, setting requirements for different models, and regulating real-world testing for AI projects.

The bill bans all forms of real-world AI testing. But the companies argue that such an outright ban would only affect research and development. They also want to share AI tools on open-source libraries, free from regulation.

If passed, the bill could set a precedent for laws regulating artificial intelligence in other jurisdictions. That's why AI companies have been lobbying aggressively to ensure the rules aren't so strict that they hinder the industry's growth.

While EU policymakers are already working on laws to regulate AI, U.S. regulation is still in its early stages. Lawmakers want to avoid the current regulatory uncertainty that continues to plague cryptocurrencies in their handling of artificial intelligence.

Top AI companies including Google, Meta, and OpenAI recently agreed to implement watermarks on AI-created content as part of a voluntary effort to improve security.