The irruption of ChatGPT is generating friction in many countries. sam altmanexecutive director of Open AI and ‘father’ of the famous chatbot, has spent days immersed in a tour of different countries to try to calm the waters and, above all, set the tone for a future regulation of the artificial intelligence (AI). This Monday he stopped at Spain to meet with the President of the Government, Pedro Sanchezand the Vice President and Minister of Economic Affairs, Nadia Calvino.
“I have met with Sam Altman, co-founder of OpenAI, with whom I have shared that artificial intelligence is a huge opportunity to modernize our societies. But it is essential that its development respects rights and democratic values,” the president shared on Twitter and leader of the PSOE.
Although at the moment no further details have been released about what issues have been addressed at that meeting, Altman’s mission seems clear. The European Union (EU) finalizes the law that will regulate the use of AI and that will place limits on language models such as ChatGPT. Presumably, that legislation will be approved by the European Parliament in June and then negotiated with the states. Spain will hold the Presidency of the Council of the EU for the fifth time between July 1 and December 31 of this year, which means that the position of Madrid be of special interest to OpenAI.
I have met with Sam Altman @samaco-founder of @OpenAIwith whom I have shared that Artificial Intelligence is an enormous opportunity to modernize our societies.
But it is essential that its development respects the rights and democratic values. pic.twitter.com/o2jBlNMYRt
— Pedro Sánchez (@sanchezcastejon) May 22, 2023
In mid-April, the Spanish Data Protection Agency (AEPD) opened an investigation to find out if OpenAI – a company partially in the hands of Microsoft– violates European privacy laws with the famous ChatGPT. The regulator has also promoted the creation of a working group at European level to promote cooperation between countries.
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Last week, Altman appeared before the US Congress to call for regulation to help “mitigate the risks” of the AI tools his company is rolling out at a furious pace. As the directors of other companies have done in the past, such as Facebook or the ill-fated FTX and TheranosAltman is calling for regulation so he can influence that regulatory process to benefit his business interests.
Also last week, up to 60 civil society organizations that defend digital rights published an open letter addressed to the Government denouncing “deficiencies” in that proposed law. These same NGOs criticized that they are not taken into account and requested “high-level” meetings with the representatives of the Spanish ministries to correct those errors.