ChatGPT could leave Europe for not complying with the GDPR

Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, showed his teeth during a lecture at University College London. The boss of the company behind AI ChatGPT has said his company’s operations could cease in Europe if it is unable to comply with new AI laws.

For several months now, many voices have been raised to alert the potential dangers AI poses to the future of humanity. Some of them are also major players in this buoyant sector.

Geoffrey Hinton, considered one of the founding fathers of AI, has just left Google to sound the alarm. Even more surprisingly, on May 24, 2023, the boss of OpenAI also took a stand by calling on governments to set up a regulatory system. Rather commendable of the leader of the company behind ChatGPT.

ChatGPT could leave Europe in case of disagreement with the EU

However, it is clear that his urges to regulate are rather limited. Indeed, during a lecture given at University College London, Sam Altman declared that his company could cease all activity within the EU if she couldn’t comply with new legislation on AI (currently in preparation).

“We will try to comply,” he said during this round table in the prestigious London university. He said he spoke with EU regulators about AI law as part of his European tour. He would have used it to share OpenAI’s criticisms of some substantive elements of the current law.

Also read: For Joe Biden too, AI is dangerous for our society

Thus, the skepticism of the American company relates in particular to the designation of “high risk” systems. In the current version of the European law text, large language models like ChatGPT could be considered “high risk”, which would force the companies that operate them to set up additional security systems.

“We will be able to meet these requirements or not. If we can comply, we will, and if we can’t, we’ll go out of business… We’ll try. But there are technical limits to what is possible,” warns the boss of OpenAI.

Source: TIME