Meta won't release the multimodal version of its Llama AI in Europe over regulatory concerns — but will bring it to the UK, despite similar data protection laws.
In June, the tech giant unveiled five multimodal AI models, which are generative AI systems that can process different types of content, such as both text and images, as well as video, audio and more.
Most models can handle one at a time. Meta aims to use the models in its platforms, as well as on its Ray-Ban smart glasses, according to a report from Axios.
But while those models will start to be released soon, they won't be arriving in Europe.
"We will release a multimodal Llama model over the coming months, but not in the EU due to the unpredictable nature of the European regulatory environment," Meta said in a statement sent to Axios.
That will limit Facebook's ability to release specific products in the region, but as the models are being offered under an open license, European companies also won’t be able to use these versions. The company said it will release a text-only version of Llama in Europe, however.
Meta didn't say exactly what concerns it had with EU regulators. ITPro has approached the company for comment on the matter.
While the company won't release the multimodal AI models in the EU, it will do so in the UK — despite the latter using the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in its own laws. Meta suggested to Axios that GDPR itself is not the problem for AI training, but how long EU regulators take to interpret the rules.
Meta's latest run-in with EU regulators
This latest round of push back against regulators follows a dispute over Meta's announcement in May that it would train AI models with user generated text that was publicly available on Facebook and Instagram.
European regulators slapped that down over concerns it wouldn't comply with GDPR, sparking a complaint from Facebook that it had alerted them of the plans before the announcement.
However, Meta had already paused plans to use user-generated data in Europe and the UK for AI training following pressure from privacy groups.
Meta suggested in a statement at the time that it hoped to begin training on UK data eventually, but would work with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) first. Similarly, the firm said it hoped to bring Meta's AI to Europe, too.
"But, put simply, without including local information we’d only be able to offer people a second-rate experience," the company said.
Big tech vs the EU
Meta isn't the first American big tech firm to push back against EU regulators when it comes to AI — and this is before the EU AI Act comes into force. In June, Apple revealed some of the AI features in iOS 18 won't be available in the European Union because of the 2022 Digital Markets Act (DMA), which aims to encourage fair competition in the market.
Apple told Bloomberg at the time it was concerned that interoperability requirements of the DMA “could force us to compromise the integrity of our products in ways that risk user privacy and data security”.
However, the company didn't specify exactly how products would be impacted by the legislation.
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The EU doesn't look likely to back down, however. Margrethe Vestager, vice president of the European Commission, told attendees at an event in June that Apple's decision to hold back the AI features were a sign of anti competitive behavior.
According to reports from Euractiv, she said it was a "stunning, open declaration that they know 100% that this is another way of disabling competition where they have a stronghold already."
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