CEOs of Meta and Spotify Lament Over AI Regulations in the EU

Once more, Meta and Spotify are collaborating on open-source artificial intelligence (AI), which they say is hindered by restrictions. Spotify CEO Daniel Ek and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg lamented in a joint statement posted to their websites that EU privacy laws on artificial intelligence are impeding progress. For example, Meta notes that regulators haven’t yet created legislation to address how this should be handled, so it hasn’t been allowed to train its AI models on public data from Facebook and Instagram.

In the short term, the most potent AI models won’t reflect the collective knowledge, culture, and languages of Europe—and Europeans won’t get to use the newest AI products—if the usage of data that is regularly used in other countries is delayed, according to a warning on Meta’s blog. It also emphasizes that AI “built for someone else” will be the only option available to Europeans, rather than the newest open-source technology.

The statement also verified earlier rumours that Meta would not provide its upcoming multimodel AI model to EU customers because of unclear regulatory guidance. As noted by Meta, this means that it won’t be able to deploy future AI models like the Llama Multimodel, which can comprehend visuals.

Spotify, on the other hand, credits its early adoption of AI technology with helping to create a customized experience for every user, which is why the streaming service was initially so successful.

“We see enormous potential to use open-source AI to benefit the industry as we look to the future of streaming.” This is particularly significant in terms of how AI may aid in the discovery of more artists. The post states that “a more straightforward regulatory framework would not only hasten the development of open-source AI but also offer vital assistance to European developers and the larger creator ecosystem that supports and grows from these breakthroughs.”

Reading between the lines, one might infer that Spotify is affected by the EU’s unclear AI legislation and would like to leverage Meta’s AI technology to enhance its offerings. Of course, when regulation benefits them, neither of these businesses is opposed to it.

For example, the two are united against Apple because of its monopoly on the App Store, which led EU authorities to refer to the producer of the iPhone as a “gatekeeper” in the Big Tech industry before compelling it to allow other app stores, payment methods, and other features. Meta and Spotify criticized Apple’s response, not the rule per se. In this instance, Zuckerberg and Ek concurred that Apple’s new business regulations for EU developers under the Digital Markets Act (DMA) of the area were so complex and unlikely to be embraced by any developers. Additionally, Spotify referred to Apple’s compliance plan as “extortion” and a “complete and total farce.” 

In the past, Meta and Spotify have collaborated on music-related projects, such as a Facebook mini-player that streamed Spotify straight from the app.