Walker’s comments added pressure, after Meta’s top lobbyist Joel Kaplan opened fire on the code, saying the rules established “unworkable and technically unfeasible requirements.”
The code of practice is a follow-up to the EU’s AI rulebook adopted last summer. The final code is meant to give substance to what was said in the law. It touches on thorny topics such as how to disclose which data was being used to train models and how companies should deal with “systemic” risks.
Big Tech’s criticism falls just ahead of the AI Action Summit in Paris, where European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and tech boss Henna Virkkunen want to show the EU is open for business.
The EU is having to fight increasingly fierce criticism of its tech regulations since United States President Donald Trump took office and backed American tech giants in their message that EU laws and fines equate to “tariffs.”
Meta’s Kaplan indicated to a Brussels audience in a video interview that the social media giant wouldn’t sign the code in its current form. He said it went “beyond the requirements” of the AI Act.
Walker said that, for Google, it’s “too soon to tell” whether the company will sign the code, hinting that the AI summit in Paris could be a pivotal moment.
Google’s president of global affairs argued that the code threatens to introduce several requirements, such as in copyright or third-party model testing, that go beyond the scope of the exercise, were already addressed elsewhere, or put a burden on the industry.
Work on the code of practice is expected to wrap up in April, but its success hinges on whether companies like Google and Meta sign up.