A letter to Santa: AI Chamber’s Christmas wishlist under the tree
Dear Santa,
We are writing to you from Central and Eastern Europe, but perhaps you could grant these wishes to all the researchers, technologists and entrepreneurs of the EU. We assure you we’ve been very good this year – instead of training our models on pirated copies of Home Alone, we’ve spent our time trying to decipher the mounting list of European tech regulations.
Unfortunately last year, instead of presents, we found a whole pile of “spaghetti law” under the tree – a web of rules so tangled that only an army of lawyers can digest it. We do not feel we deserve to be punished this way and we beg you to reconsider when handing out this year’s presents.
Santa, have you read the Draghi report? It’s clear: we either become a technological power or face a slow decline.
Before Europe permanently loses its global technological and economic standing, we are asking you for these 7 small gifts to help us find our way out of these digital woods:
1. An instant “Stop the Clock” button for the AI Act
Santa, our elves (developers) can’t keep up with patching code for new regulations that treat AI primarily as a threat. We ask for an unconditional, two-year postponement of the remaining provisions of the AI Act. We want to chase the USA and China, not waste time filling out forms while the competition “wins the race”. This gift would allow us to catch our breath and maybe rethink if this is indeed the best approach to regulating AI.
2. Very sharp scissors to cut through the “spaghetti law”
Please, please bring us a sharp tool to help with a radical simplification of the law. Current rules are so complex that innovators spend their budgets on lawyers and consultants just to find out if their idea is even legal. We want clear compliance pathways for SMEs, not “law for the tech giants”. The digital Omnibus package is a good place to start, but we would really love to cut through a lot more than that! We want SMEs to be able to compete without needing a legal department larger than their IT department. On second thoughts – I think a CHAINSAW would be much better!
3. An impenetrable shield for Articles 3 and 4 of the CDSM Directive
In the upcoming revision of the Copyright Directive (CDSM), please protect and (dare we say it?) expand and fortify the Text and Data Mining (TDM) exceptions. Without a stable legal basis for training models on open internet data, AI research in Europe will simply grind to a halt. Don’t let courts and politicians take away the fuel for our innovation. Other jurisdictions are already ahead, let AI training survive in Europe!
4. Robust “Legitimate Interest” basis in GDPR
We dream that confirming AI training can fully and unequivocally rely on “legitimate interest” as a legal basis becomes a reality, not just wishful thinking. We need clear rules that aren’t interpreted differently in every single Member State and aren’t subject to the whims of officials. This is another key prerequisite to creating an environment for creating truly European AI. Having taken appropriate steps to mitigate risks the AI trainers should be shielded from undue data protection interference for individual actors.
5. One big chimney instead of twenty (Single Entry Point)
Instead of reporting cybersecurity incidents to ten different offices under NIS2, CRA, and DORA, we ask for a Single Entry Point (SEP). We want to report in the country of our main establishment and have liability protection for being compliant there. The current fragmentation is a gift only to hackers and a nightmare for our teams, forced to divert resources from providing real security to dealing with piles of reports and red tape.
Santa! We strongly believe that economic progress is not a threat to our values, but the only way to preserve them in the long run. Without the return to a path of prosperity and hope for our citizens, the whole European project is at risk. If you grant these wishes, we promise you that next years’ presents will be designed, trained, and manufactured right here in Europe.
With hope for a maxed-out “Digital Omnibus” on steroids and real simplification. Oh and throw in the 28th regime from Mr. Letta while you’re at it. Pretty please!