OpenAI Could Quit Europe Over New AI Rules, CEO Sam Altman Warns

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said Wednesday his company could "cease operating" in the European Union if it is unable to comply with the provisions of new artificial intelligence legislation that the bloc is currently preparing. "We're gonna try to comply," Altman said on the sidelines of a panel discussion at University College London, part of an ongoing tour of European countries. He said he had met with E.U. regulators to discuss the AI act as part of his tour, and added that OpenAI had "a lot" of criticisms of the way the act is currently worded. Altman said that OpenAI's skepticism centered on the E.U. law's designation of "high risk" systems as it is currently drafted. The law is still undergoing revisions, but under its current wording it may require large AI models like OpenAI's ChatGPT and GPT-4 to be designated as "high risk," forcing the companies behind them to comply with additional safety requirements.