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US tech giant Google said it will sign the EU’s AI Code of Practice on General Purpose AI (GPAI), while still expressing concerns about bloc’s AI rules regarding innovation.
“While the final version of the Code comes closer to supporting Europe’s innovation and economic goals […] we remain concerned that the AI Act and Code risk slowing down Europe’s development and deployment of AI,” the president of global affairs at Google’s parent company Alphabet, Kent Walker, said in a blogpost on Wednesday.
“In particular departures from EU copyright law, steps that slow approvals, or requirements that expose trade secrets could chill European model development and deployments, harming Europe’s competitiveness,” Walker said.
The Code, which the European Commission released earlier this month, is a voluntary set of rules that touches on transparency, copyright, and safety and security issues, aiming to help providers of GPAI models comply with the AI Act.
Those providers who sign up are expected to be compliant with the AI Act and can anticipate more legal certainty, others will face more inspections.
The rules on GPAI under the AI Act enter into force on 2 August. Companies that already have tools on the market will have two years to implement the rules. Tools launched after that date must be compliant with immediate effect.
US tech giant Meta said last week that it will not sign, having slammed the rules for stifling innovation. The drafting process of the Code has also received criticism from rightsholders, fearing it is a violation of copyright rules.
The Commission will make public a list with the signatories on 1 August.
Google said in its statement that it’s committed to work with the AI Office to ensure that the Code is “proportionate and responsive to the rapid and dynamic evolution of AI”.