OpenAI will not leave Europe: CEO Sam Altman

OpenAI, an American artificial intelligence (AI) research laboratory company, has no plans to leave Europe, according to CEO (Chief Executive Officer) Sam Altman.

On Friday, Sam Altman talked about the OpenAI controversy in the European region. He wrote on Twitter, “We are excited to continue to operate here (Europe) and of course have no plans to leave.”

Earlier this week, Altman expressed concern about the European Union’s attempts to regulate AI in the region. He also warned that OpenAI would pull its services from the European region if it failed to comply with upcoming laws on artificial intelligence. He expressed concern over the EU’s proposed AI Act, which was proposed in 2021 by the European Commission. He further said that the draft of the EU AI Act had been “over-regulating.”

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Altman’s comments drew sharp criticism from EU industry chief Thierry Breton. Breton told Reuters on Thursday that the EU’s rules are not for negotiation. He slammed Altman for threatening to quit Europe. Breton said, “Our rules are put in place for the security and well-being of our citizens and this cannot be bargained.”

Breton wrote on Twitter, “There is no point in attempting blackmail — claiming that by crafting a clear framework, Europe is holding up the rollout of generative AI.”

Over the past week, Altman met some top politicians in France, Spain, Poland, Germany and Britain to discuss the prospect of AI and the future of ChatGPT, an AI chatbot developed by OpenAI.

In recent weeks, OpenAI had been facing criticism for not disclosing training data for its latest AI model GPT-4 (Generative Pre-trained Transformer 4). GPT-4 was released on 14 March 2023. The company said it was unable to disclose training data due to the competitive landscape and safety implications.

Dragos Tudorache, a Romanian member of the European Parliament, told Reuters, “I don’t see a reason why any company would shy away from transparency.”