Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has announced it will not deploy its new generative AI models in Europe due to the "unpredictable nature of the European regulatory environment." The company's decision comes as a response to what it perceives as excessive interference by the EU in the tech industry.
The new version of Llama, Meta's generative AI model, will be able to process various forms of media like video, audio, text, and images. However, it will be unavailable for European companies and those outside the EU offering services in European territory. Only a text-only version of Llama 3 will be available in the EU.
This move follows Meta's recent decision to stop using Facebook and Instagram user data to train its AI models after an investigation by Ireland's data protection authority. Similarly, Apple also announced a month ago that it would not deploy all its new AI-based features in Europe due to potential conflicts with regulations.
Meta's decision is another point of contention between the tech giant and the EU, which has been actively creating a regulatory framework to protect its citizens from the growing power of Big Tech. The EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Digital Services Act (DSA), Digital Markets Act (DMA), and the Artificial Intelligence Regulation are all part of this framework.
Today is not the first time Meta has challenged European legislators. In February 2022, the technology company hinted that it would leave Europe if the legislation was not favourable to it. One of the major disputes between Big Tech and the EU was whether the former could host data of European citizens on US soil, exempting them from strict EU regulations. The US and EU ultimately reached an agreement, averting Meta's threatened departure from Europe.
