ChatGPT could “cease operating” in the EU after proposed AI regulations

ChatGPT could cease operation in the EU following new AI regulations currently being developed in the region.

ChatGPT has become incredibly popular since its initial public release in November 2022. Since its launch, we’ve seen dozens of new AI products pop up from companies like Microsoft, Google, and many more. Due to the current AI gold rush, lawmakers across the world have been quick to respond. ChatGPT is even currently banned in Italy over privacy concerns. Now, a new regulation being developed in the EU could potentially mean that ChatGPT could cease operation in the area entirely.

The Verge reports that Sam Altman, OpenAI CEO has “many concerns” surrounding the EU AI act, which could mean that the company would have to disclose sensitive information, like the kinds of data that OpenAI’s model is currently being trained on. In a report from the Financial Times, Altman claims “We will try to comply, but if we can’t comply we will cease operating.”

Why OpenAI complying could spell trouble for the company

OpenAI

While the EU AI act has not yet been passed into law, it would require that OpenAI disclose the details of the design of its complicated neural networks. OpenAI would have to disclose details of “computing power required, training time and other relevant information related to the size and power of the model”, as well as provide summaries of the copyrighted data that the AI model is trained on.

Giving over access to copyrighted training data could also poke another hole into the company’s AI dominance aspirations. This could make OpenAI vulnerable to copyright lawsuits, especially if training data of copyrighted content has been used to train the AI without the consent of its creators.

This is an ongoing issue in the AI industry, especially surrounding image generators like Stable Diffusion. While Altman and OpenAI are calling for more regulations surrounding the AI industry as a whole, it appears that the company still has more to overcome on its path to dominance.