"France, Germany, and Italy's Power Grab Imperils EU's AI Bill"

France, Germany, and Italy are opposing the regulation of powerful artificial intelligence (AI) models in the European Union's (EU) draft AI legislation, arguing that it would hinder their own development of "foundation models." These models underpin large-language models like OpenAI's GPT and Google's Bard. The three countries propose self-regulation through company pledges and codes of conduct instead. This stance has created a deadlock in negotiations, potentially jeopardizing the entire Artificial Intelligence Act. The push to dial down regulation is surprising given Europe's traditional stance on tech regulation. The EU is broadly in favor of bans and strict rules on AI applications, but ignoring foundation models could leave the most potentially harmful systems unregulated.