Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta announced that it would not release an advanced version of its artificial intelligence model in the EU, citing “unpredictable” behavior of regulators.
The owners of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp are preparing to make the Llama model available in a multimodal format, meaning it can work with text, video, images and audio, not just one format. Llama is an open-source model, meaning users can freely download and adapt it.
But a Meta spokesperson confirmed that the model would not be available in the EU, a decision that highlights tensions between big tech companies and Brussels amid an increasingly tough regulatory environment.
“We plan to release a multi-modal Llama model in the coming months, but it will not be released in the EU due to the unpredictable regulatory environment there,” the spokesperson said.
Brussels is introducing an EU AI law which comes into force next month, while new regulatory requirements for big tech companies are being introduced in the form of the Digital Markets Act (DMA).
However, Meta’s decision regarding its multimodal Llama model has implications on its compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR): Meta was ordered to stop training its AI models on posts from Facebook and Instagram users in the EU for potential violations of privacy regulations.
The Irish Data Protection Commission, which oversees Meta’s compliance with GDPR, said it was in discussions with the company about training its models.
However, Meta is concerned that other EU data watchdogs could step in to the regulatory process and halt its approval. Although a text-based version of Llama is available in the EU, and a new text-only version is due to be released in the EU soon, these models have not been trained on EU Meta user data.
The move comes after Apple announced last month that it would not roll out some new AI features in the EU due to concerns about compliance with the DMA.
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Meta had planned to use the multimodal Llama model in products such as Ray-Ban smart glasses and smartphones. Llama’s decision was first reported by Axios.
Meta also announced on Wednesday that it had suspended use of its Generative AI tool in Brazil after the Brazilian government raised privacy concerns about the use of user data to train models. The company said it decided to suspend use of the tool while it consults with Brazil’s data authorities.
Source: www.theguardian.com
