Siemens CEO criticizes EU AI law as "misguided": Excessive restrictions will lead to investment shifting towards the US and China markets.

Siemens CEO Roland Busch said that if the EU does not adjust its restrictive regulations, Siemens will prioritize investments in artificial intelligence in the United States and China. Busch mentioned in an interview at the Hanover Industrial Fair that due to the regulatory burden in Europe, most of the company's 1 billion euros (about 1.2 billion US dollars) investment in industrial AI will flow to the United States. He added that the EU's AI Act and Data Act "deviate from the goal" as these acts equate industrial AI with consumer applications, adding new regulatory levels to sectors already constrained by specific industry rules. "It is completely absurd to treat industrial and machine data the same as personal data," Busch said. "I cannot explain to shareholders why I should invest in an environment that restricts my abilities." Critics point out that the EU's AI rules are overly complex and contradictory, warning that Europe may fall further behind global competitors in this emerging technology field. For example, engineering equipment manufacturers already need to comply with the EU's Machinery Regulation, which mandates them to assess and address risks associated with autonomous systems. Driven by US and European tech companies and EU member states, the European Commission unveiled plans in November to reduce regulations aimed at helping local businesses. These proposals include delaying the implementation of rules for high-risk AI systems for up to 16 months, simplifying the reporting process for cybersecurity incidents, and easing data protection provisions to facilitate the training of AI models. Busch believes that the adjustments proposed by the European Commission are too small to substantially reduce the burden. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz reiterated his support for simplifying European AI rules in a speech at Hanover on Sunday. He stated that the German government will push to "free industrial AI from the 'straitjacket' of excessive restrictions imposed by the EU regulatory framework." Siemens, based in Munich, was primarily known for its engineering and electrification business and has evolved over its 175-year history into a supplier of factory control, software, and automation products. It is the highest valued company on the German stock market, with a market capitalization of around 194 billion euros. On Monday, the company launched the "Eigen Engineering Agent," one of the first commercial AI systems capable of independently performing industrial automation tasks. The system not only provides recommendations to engineers but also takes actions directly in the engineering environment, including generating code, configurations, and checking its outputs. Siemens states that this technology can increase productivity by up to 50%. Application of AI in industrial scenarios typically demands higher precision and reliability standards than consumer cases like chatting robots and automation because systems must meet very high accuracy and reliability standards. Software Transformation Since acquiring UGS Corporation in 2007, Siemens has been transitioning towards software. While the software business currently accounts for over a third of the revenue of its Digital Industries segment, it is not reported as a standalone business unit. Busch said that this structure will remain unchanged in the current fiscal year, but Siemens is working on "selectively" increasing transparency and disclosing more software-related metrics. Under Busch's leadership, Siemens has accelerated its strides into the software field, acquiring Altair and Dotmatics for a total of approximately $15 billion in recent years. Busch stated that the company will continue to seek acquisitions in both hardware and software fields. "Of course, we have always been focusing on the software field - whether it is simulation, AI applications, or what we call operational software," he said. "Any field related to data processing is of great interest to us."