This is a major moment in technology. Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to change the world – increasing human productivity, accelerating scientific progress, and bringing trillions of dollars to the global economy.
But as with any leap in innovation, some are better positioned than others to benefit. The gap between those who have access to this extraordinary technology and those who do not is already beginning to emerge. That is why a key opportunity for European organisations lies in open source AI—Models whose weights are published publicly under a permissive license. This ensures that power is not concentrated in the hands of a few large players and, as was the case with the Internet, ensures a level playing field.
The Internet is largely built on open source technologies, as are most leading technology companies. We believe that the next generation of ideas and startups will be built on open source technologies. AIbecause it allows developers to integrate the latest innovations cost-effectively and gives institutions more control over their data. It is the best chance AI to drive progress and create economic opportunity and security for all.
Meta makes many of his AI technologies, including the cutting-edge Llama language models, and public institutions and researchers are already using these models to accelerate medical research and preserve languages. Europe has more open source developers than America and is therefore particularly well placed to make the most of this open source technology. AI Wave. But the fragmented regulatory structure with inconsistent implementation is hampering innovation and holding developers back. Instead of clear rules that inform and guide companies across the continent in how to do business, our industry is faced with overlapping regulations and inconsistent guidelines on how to comply with them. Without urgent changes, European companies, academics and others risk missing out on the next wave of technology investment and economic growth opportunities.
Spotify is proud to be celebrated as a European tech success, but we are also aware that we remain one of only a few. Looking back, it is clear that our early investments in AI has made the company what it is today: a personalized experience for every user, which has led to billions of discoveries from artists and creators around the world. As we look to the future of streaming, we see tremendous potential for using open source AI to benefit the industry. This is especially important when it comes to how AI can help discover more artists. A simplified regulatory structure would not only facilitate the growth of open source AI but also provide crucial support to European developers and the broader developer ecosystem that contributes to and benefits from these innovations.
Regulation against known harms is necessary, but preemptive regulation of theoretical harms for emerging technologies like open-source AI will hamper innovation. Europe’s risk-averse, complex regulation could prevent it from capitalizing on the big bets that can turn into big wins.
Take the uneven application of the EUGeneral Data Protection Regulation (GDPRThis landmark directive was intended to harmonize the use and flow of data, but instead EU Data protection authorities are causing delays and uncertainty and are unable to agree among themselves on how to apply the law. For example, Meta has been ordered to delay training its models on content shared publicly by adults on Facebook and Instagram – not because it broke a law, but because authorities have not agreed on how to proceed. In the short term, delaying the use of data that is routinely used in other regions represents the most powerful AI Models will not reflect the collective knowledge, culture and languages of Europe – and Europeans will not have the latest AI Products.
These concerns are not theoretical. Given the current regulatory uncertainty, Meta will not be able to release upcoming models such as Llama multimodal, which can understand images. This means that European organizations will not have access to the latest open source technology and European citizens will only AI built for someone else.
The stark reality is that laws designed to strengthen European sovereignty and competitiveness have the opposite effect. This is not limited to our industry: many European CEOs from a range of sectors cite a complex and incoherent regulatory environment as one reason for the continent’s lack of competitiveness.
Europe should simplify and harmonize regulation, taking advantage of a unified but diverse market. One only has to look at the growing gap between the number of homegrown European technology leaders and those from America and Asia – a gap that also extends to unicorns and other startups. Europe needs to make it easier to create great companies and do a better job of retaining its talent. Many of its best and brightest minds in AI decide to work outside Europe.
In short, Europe needs a new approach with clearer guidelines and more consistent enforcement. With the right regulatory environment, combined with the right ambition and some of the world’s leading AI Talent that EU would have a real chance to lead the next generation of technological innovation.
We believe that Open Source AI can help European organisations to make the most of this new technology by creating a level playing field, and we hope that the EU does not limit the possibilities we are only beginning to explore. While Spotify and Meta use AI in different ways, we agree that thoughtful, clear and consistent regulation can encourage competition and innovation while protecting people and giving them access to new technologies that empower them.
While we can all hope that these laws will be refined over time, we also know that technology is advancing rapidly. If Europe continues on its current course, it will miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Because the one thing Europe doesn’t have is time, unless it wants to fall even further behind.
Mark Zuckerberg is the founder and CEO of Meta. Daniel Ek is the founder and CEO of Spotify.
Originally published in The Economist © The Economist Newspaper Limited, London, 2024
