Meta (META.US) rejects EU AI behavior guidelines, calling their "excessive regulation" a threat to innovation.

Meta Platforms (META.US) refused to sign the "Code of Conduct on Artificial Intelligence Behavior" established by the European Union for general artificial intelligence models, citing "overregulation" as the reason, which they believe will inhibit innovation and development. Joel Kaplan, Meta's Global Affairs Chief, publicly expressed this stance on social media. "Europe is taking the wrong path in AI regulation," Kaplan wrote in a post on Friday. "This code of conduct introduces a lot of legal uncertainties and contains measures that go far beyond the original intent of the Artificial Intelligence Act." The European Commission released the final version of the "Code of Conduct on Artificial Intelligence Behavior" last week, emphasizing the principle of "voluntary signing" for companies to independently decide whether to participate. The code will officially come into effect next month and is an extension of the Artificial Intelligence Act passed by the EU last year, aiming to increase transparency and security of general AI models, providing developers and users with a clearer compliance framework. However, Meta is not the only tech giant opposing the new regulations of the EU. Previously, Dutch semiconductor equipment giant ASML Holding NV ADR (ASML.US) and European aerospace giant Airbus, among others, had jointly sent a letter to the EU calling for a two-year postponement of the implementation of the code of conduct. Kaplan expressed in the post: "We share the concerns of these companies, believing that such overregulation will limit the development and deployment of cutting-edge AI models in Europe, and stifle European companies that wish to build business models based on AI models." In contrast to Meta, OpenAI has already committed to signing the code of conduct last week. It is worth mentioning that Kaplan took over as Meta's Global Affairs Chief this year, succeeding Nick Clegg. He previously served as Vice President of US Policy at Facebook and also served in the administration of former US President George W. Bush.