Siemens and SAP call for EU to revise its AI regulations – FAZ

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ZURICH (Reuters) -Siemens and SAP CEOs have urged the European Union to revise its artificial intelligence legislation, saying the current rules stifle innovation.

SAP CEO Christian Klein and Siemens CEO Roland Busch told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that a new regulatory framework is needed to support rather than hinder technological advancement.

The EU’s AI Act, which became law last year, governs the development and use of AI systems to ensure they are safe, transparent and respect fundamental rights.

The law classifies AI applications into risk categories, according to which providers must meet certain security and transparency requirements.

But Siemens’ Busch said the Act was a key reason Europe is lagging, adding overlapping and sometimes contradictory regulations are hampering progress.

He said the EU’s Data Act, another law which sets out obligations on how companies use consumer and corporate data, was “toxic” for developing digital business models.

While several companies including Google owner Alphabet and Facebook owner Meta recently wrote to Brussels asking for the rules to be postponed, Busch declined to sign their letter, saying the proposal did not go far enough.

SAP’s Klein warned against simply copying the U.S. and only investing heavily in infrastructure and data centres, emphasizing that infrastructure shortages are not the main barrier in Europe.

Instead, both CEOs called for reforming data rules before investing in data centres.

“We are sitting on a treasure trove of data in Europe, but we are not yet able to tap into it,” Busch told the newspaper. “It’s not access to computing capacity that we’re currently lacking, but the release of resources.”

(Reporting by John Revill; Editing by Sandra Maler)