Software giant Microsoft has received a new warning from the EU in regards to a new fine that could soon be imposed on the company.
This has to do with Microsoft's failure to respond to the EU’s request for more transparency about the systemic risks that its Generative AI tools pose for the world.
The request was sent out to a leading number of tech giants currently operational but the manner in which Microsoft continued to ignore it did not go unnoticed by the EU. The fine could entail 1% of the company’s global turnover as per the online governance regime.
We saw in the month of March, the European Union requested Microsoft and a host of other leading giants for data regarding this domain. However, Microsoft did not provide the relevant data or documents that were requested.
What was interesting is how the latest report on this front had the terms tweaked and several phases were removed that once said that Microsoft did not give a response. So what we can gather is that the software giant did reply but probably not in the manner that was anticipated by the EU.
The EU really stepped up its actions on this front after generating a request for more data.
The Commission gave the company until the end of this month to give out the relevant information or provide a list of risks that come with the tools. Remember, fines can go up to 6% of the company’s global turnover when the matter is very serious.
But if inadequate or wrong information is provided, it could be 1% as the case seems to be here. However, the figure is by no means small. We’re talking billions in the case of Microsoft where reports for revenue were said to be going strong during Q1 of this year.
Big companies’ systemic risks under the current Digital Services Act are usually overseen by the commission which likes to handle matters on its own. But this kind of warning certainly sits at large and could be very costly for the tech giant if it does not provide accurate data as requested.
Several other details were rolled out in terms of what it was looking for in particular and that includes risks linked to the company’s Bing Search and a host of other leading AI features that are currently on offer like the Copilot and its Image Creator.
The European Union adds how it was super concerned about the risks that such tools envisioned and how they could really pose serious risks to the entire process of elections.
The Commission has really just given two leading options. Either give the right data or risk having a fine that entails 1% of the yearly revenue. And in cases when the company does not still give rise to the right data, it could face serious periodic penalties. And we’re talking fines that hit the 5% daily income mark as a worldwide yearly turnover.
Bing was created to provide users with the best options in search. Since then, it’s been plagued by an added layer of obligations linked to systemic risks such as disinformation.
The biggest obligation on this front has to do with the EU stopping tech giants from mitigating misinformation and with the advent of advanced AI tools, it’s hard to take control and keep tabs on what’s taking place.
Not only that but AI tools were proven to give rise to material that’s racially biased or provides serious harm. There are issues about deepfakes and whatnot as well and it’s not an easy task by any means. So Microsoft’s Bing Search getting questioned is not shocking.
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