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Meta Won't Offer Future Multimodal AI Models In EU (axios.com) 33
According to Axios, Meta will withhold future multimodel AI models from customers in the European Union "due to the unpredictable nature of the European regulatory environment." From the report: Meta plans to incorporate the new multimodal models, which are able to reason across video, audio, images and text, in a wide range of products, including smartphones and its Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses. Meta says its decision also means that European companies will not be able to use the multimodal models even though they are being released under an open license. It could also prevent companies outside of the EU from offering products and services in Europe that make use of the new multimodal models. The company is also planning to release a larger, text-only version of its Llama 3 model soon. That will be made available for customers and companies in the EU, Meta said.
Meta's issue isn't with the still-being-finalized AI Act, but rather with how it can train models using data from European customers while complying with GDPR -- the EU's existing data protection law. Meta announced in May that it planned to use publicly available posts from Facebook and Instagram users to train future models. Meta said it sent more than 2 billion notifications to users in the EU, offering a means for opting out, with training set to begin in June. Meta says it briefed EU regulators months in advance of that public announcement and received only minimal feedback, which it says it addressed. In June -- after announcing its plans publicly -- Meta was ordered to pause the training on EU data. A couple weeks later it received dozens of questions from data privacy regulators from across the region.
The United Kingdom has a nearly identical law to GDPR, but Meta says it isn't seeing the same level of regulatory uncertainty and plans to launch its new model for U.K. users. A Meta representative told Axios that European regulators are taking much longer to interpret existing law than their counterparts in other regions. A Meta representative told Axios that training on European data is key to ensuring its products properly reflect the terminology and culture of the region.
Meta's issue isn't with the still-being-finalized AI Act, but rather with how it can train models using data from European customers while complying with GDPR -- the EU's existing data protection law. Meta announced in May that it planned to use publicly available posts from Facebook and Instagram users to train future models. Meta said it sent more than 2 billion notifications to users in the EU, offering a means for opting out, with training set to begin in June. Meta says it briefed EU regulators months in advance of that public announcement and received only minimal feedback, which it says it addressed. In June -- after announcing its plans publicly -- Meta was ordered to pause the training on EU data. A couple weeks later it received dozens of questions from data privacy regulators from across the region.
The United Kingdom has a nearly identical law to GDPR, but Meta says it isn't seeing the same level of regulatory uncertainty and plans to launch its new model for U.K. users. A Meta representative told Axios that European regulators are taking much longer to interpret existing law than their counterparts in other regions. A Meta representative told Axios that training on European data is key to ensuring its products properly reflect the terminology and culture of the region.
Generally speaking (Score:2, Insightful)
The wisdom of Chun (Score:2)
Agreed. (Score:2)
Good (Score:1)
Not an open license (Score:3, Insightful)
"Meta says its decision also means that European companies will not be able to use the multimodal models even though they are being released under an open license."
So it's not an open license.
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So it's not an open license.
I doubt the license limits the distribution to non-EU countries. It's more likely Meta simply won't build out any bots from the source and offer them to EU users.
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you'll have a hard time since you're not allowed to use it there in the first place.
But then we're back to the original comment: it's not an open licence. Which is also what people in charge with such things say fact: https://opensource.org/blog/me... [opensource.org]
The license for the Llama LLM is very plainly not an “Open Source” license. Meta is making some aspect of its large language model available to some, but not to everyone, and not for any purpose. -- Open Source Initiative
This comment was made for the llama-2 licence https://ai.meta.com/llama/lice... [meta.com] but version 3 is same with more restrictions https://github.com/meta-llama/... [github.com] including an explicit list of what they don't allow, such as "promoting guns".
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Besides all that, I think there is some significant chance of the EU demonizing open source because they lack the power to control it to the extent they'd wish. There is no CEO to threa
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I think there is some significant chance of the EU demonizing open source because they lack the power to control it to the extent they'd wish.
There is zero chance because of the scope of the EU. All EU does is to regulate services introduced on its market. If you or Meta operate a service accessible to EU residents or registered businesses, then regulations might apply. But the origin of the code used to power the services (whether it is proprietary or you got it from an open source repository) is entirely irrelevant for what the EU is able to regulate.
There is no CEO to threaten and no company shares to weaken
The EU is not able to threaten CEOs as it does not have penal law or operate criminal tribunal
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If the EU Government says it is illegal in the EU, that doesn't affect its Open Source status.
If Meta says you are not allowed to use it in the EU, that goes against section 5 of the Open Source Definition, and therefore makes it not Open Source.
The United Kingdom has a nearly identical law but (Score:2)
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That may change now they have a new party in government and one that certainly doesnt remember Meta's bought and for ex uk politician advisor fondly. But the chances are slim.
If anything the Starmer government will be far harder to buy.
They've got far bigger fish to fry at the moment after 14 years of mismanagement, of which the ex-UK politician advisor you mentioned, Nick Clegg was part. Arguably the less destructive part but as deputy prime minister, he was neck deep in it.
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Travel to Europe and try to use the web. It's a complete shit show. Every fucking website throws popup modals about cookies and other bullshit.
That's literally a single regulation that has nothing to do with what is being discussed and is currently under review by the EC.
This is why europe has no leaders in the technology space.
The only reason you have leaders in the technology space is because the EU leaders in the technology space are selling you equipment. But don't trust me on this, just ask your own government and why they are falling over themselves to try and stop the EU selling technology to China.
This is a threat (Score:1)
So Meta made everyone in the EU & UK accept terms of "Pay us or we'll steal your data."
Such coersion is very far from passing muster with GDPR.
Meta is so unsure of its position that rather than blocking FB in the Europe, they're blocking some AI model that probably no-one in Europe will care about.
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So Meta made everyone in the EU & UK accept terms of "Pay us or we'll steal your data."
Such coersion is very far from passing muster with GDPR.
Meta is so unsure of its position that rather than blocking FB in the Europe, they're blocking some AI model that probably no-one in Europe will care about.
Meta and every other piece of shit corporation out there with ambitions to be the biggest AI industry empire just hoovered up any and all data they could find regardless of TOS or copyright. If there is any uncertainty here it's an uncertainty on Meta's part whether they can continue doing this in Europe for free or whether they have to pay for it. I'm pretty sure the US will regulate this the next time the R and D tribes pause their culture war for a while to earn some campaign contributions by ticking a f
Re:Good riddance to bad rubbish (Score:4, Insightful)
Agreed, it's important to preserve the EU as a quaint little microcosm of the early 21st century. The EU's role is to be a heritage site to take vacations in when you want to get away from the hustle & bustle. Not only is there no downside to Meta's decision, it's all upside.
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There's a significant downside for Meta - their decision doesn't affect their compliance with GDPR in the slightest. The rights that EU citizens have over their data are protected WORLDWIDE. If Meta is non-compliantly training the model using the data of EU citizens, then where they are doing that or offering the model to is irrelevant - the company can be fined in the EU.
And nothing of value was lost (Score:4, Insightful)
Props to the EU for telling Meta to shove it.
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Props to the EU for telling Meta to shove it.
Those evil Eurocrats... looking out for privacy and rights. Commenting mostly because of your sig... Video is almost the worst way to provide most information, not just technical.
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Try uBlacklist to block video search results. I get a little bit of text at the top of the google search results saying something like 'uBlacklist has blocked 7 sites' and no youtube results. Theres a little link that puts them back in the results if you actually need them.
That's good info, thanks. I find it helps to use duckduckgo as my primary search engine, they have less incentive to push results from Youtube. I recently gave Google another try for a couple of searches that I hadn't had much success with. Damn, it's all just ads and SEO crap these days! I'll give uBlacklist a go some time...
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Those euros really have their shit together. I'm seriously considering moving to an EU country, just need to work on the language skills :-)
As for my sig, I actually ran into a validation of this rule when I was trying to install an aftermarket suspension kit on a bike trailer last week. There was NO manual available online. The only way was to follow their video. It sucked. Constantly trying to pause a video at just the right place (sucks on a phone's touch screen!), while balancing a half-assembled traile
What happened to their multiverse? (Score:2)