Source: AFP
The EU on Friday told Microsoft to hand over internal documents or face fines as it looks into the risks of building artificial intelligence into the company’s Bing search engine ahead of elections.
The EU has identified genetic artificial intelligence as one of the main threats to elections to be held across the 27-nation bloc on June 6-9.
Brussels in March pressed Bing, along with several major digital platforms such as Google Search, TikTok and YouTube, on taking steps to mitigate AI risks.
However, Microsoft did not respond to a request for more details on “specific risks arising from Bing’s AI creation features, in particular ‘Copilot in Bing’ and ‘Image Creator by Designer’,” the European Commission said.
The US tech giant now has until May 27 to provide “internal documents and data”.
If Microsoft fails to do so, the EU could impose fines of up to 1 percent of the company’s total annual income or global turnover and periodic penalties of up to five percent of its average daily income or daily global turnover her.
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Since last year, the world’s biggest tech companies have had to comply with the European Union’s landmark content oversight law known as the Digital Services Act (DSA).
The commission said it suspected that “Bing may have violated the DSA for risks associated with generative artificial intelligence,” pointing to “so-called ‘hallucinations’ – where artificial intelligence provides false information – and the “viral spread of deepfakes.”
He also worries about “automated manipulation of services that can mislead voters.”
Brussels already has its eye on Microsoft and its growing influence in the world of artificial intelligence.
Microsoft has poured billions into OpenAI, a major player in artificial intelligence, especially since the ChatGPT chatbot appeared on the scene in late 2022.
The Commission, the EU’s powerful competition regulator, is looking into Microsoft’s relationship with OpenAI to see if it is a covert merger.
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It also oversees a 15 million euro ($16 million) Microsoft partnership with French startup Mistral AI that was announced in February.
Source: AFP