OpenAI has backtracked on its earlier statement of leaving Europe if it becomes too hard to comply with upcoming laws on artificial intelligence.
The CEO, Sam Altman on Friday stated that OpenAI has no plans to leave Europe.
“We are excited to continue to operate here and of course have no plans to leave,” he tweeted.
The EU is working on what could be the first set of rules globally to govern AI and Altman on Wednesday said the current draft of the EU AI Act was “over-regulating.”
Altman’s threat to leave Europe drew criticism from EU Industry Commissioner Thierry Breton and a slew of other legislators.
Altman has spent the last week traveling throughout Europe, meeting with key lawmakers in France, Spain, Poland, Germany, and the United Kingdom to discuss the future of artificial intelligence and the growth of ChatGPT.
His journey was described as a “very productive week of conversations in Europe about how to best regulate AI!”
ChatGPT, an AI-powered chatbot supported by Microsoft, has opened up new possibilities for AI, while anxieties about its potential have sparked enthusiasm and anxiety – and led it into a confrontation with regulators.
OpenAI initially clashed with regulators in March, when Garante, Italy’s data authority, shut down the service locally, accusing OpenAI of violating European privacy standards.
ChatGPT reopened after the corporation implemented new user privacy safeguards.