French President Emmanuel Macron warned that the European Union’s (EU) new artificial intelligence (AI) law will stifle innovation. His comments come shortly after reports emerged that France’s previous attempts to innovate through Binance had harmed certain members of the French population.
Emmanuel Macron insisted that new AI rules agreed in principle by EU lawmakers last week would regulate French AI innovators. Companies like Parisian AI startup Mistral could become one of the victims of an overzealous regulatory regime that is leaving France behind.
French AI caught between US and China
President Macron and German and Italian leaders plan to oppose passage of the new law in the coming weeks. The rules prohibit the use of AI to generate social scores based on people’s appearance or behavior. It also imposes transparency requirements on artificial intelligence frameworks, such as OpenAI’s latest Generative Pre-Trained Transformer model.
The bill has received pushback from industry groups such as DigitalEurope on the grounds that it makes compliance expensive. Senior official Cecilia Bonefield-Dahl said companies could end up spending more on legal costs than on key staff.
However, France has clashed with human rights groups opposing privacy violations using technology. For example, facial recognition, which has been banned under proposed EU legislation, has been blocked for intended testing in high schools at La Quadrature du Net in southern France.
But national governments have repeatedly ignored rulings from the EU’s highest court banning bulk data retention. AI surveillance cameras are scheduled to be used at the 2024 Paris Olympics next year. The region is competing with the United States and China for technological supremacy. According to Caroline Lequesne, a professor at the University of the Côte d’Azur:
“Surveillance technology is the Trojan horse of artificial intelligence. “Europe is trapped in the stranglehold of China and the United States,” he said.
People Allegedly Harmed by Binance Approval
The same goes for France’s entry into cryptocurrency. France was one of the major European economies to embrace Binance before US authorities prosecuted the exchange. At the same time, U.S. lawmakers have blocked progress and China has banned most cryptocurrency activity.
Binance invested $108 million in France’s cryptocurrency industry in 2021. Financial regulator Autorité des Marchés Financiers has granted Binance a license in 2022 to make France a “European hub for the crypto asset ecosystem,” according to Economy and Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire.
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However, even in this space, the government caused controversy. Binance has reportedly used its default powers to engage students in poor areas such as Aulnay-sous-Bois and Montreuil in blockchain education programs. Aurore Lalucq, a member of the French National Assembly, said that although it was marketed as an act of benevolent charity, it was “more of a marketing exercise than anything else.”
A member of Macron’s parliamentary majority recently claimed that the government does not regret licensing Binance and that it symbolizes a shift in sentiment towards innovation. Soon after, CZ resigned and US authorities fined Binance. It is not yet known what Macron’s opposition to AI legislation in the name of innovation will mean for the French people.
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