France $270M Penalty on Google's Ai Sparks Regulatory Debate

Fine for breaching past settlement on data usage, sparking debate on AI training ethics and regulatory strategies. New clash between technological advancement and legal frameworks in the digital age

Google received a $270 million fine in France for not adhering to a previous settlement regarding the use of sources without consent.

While this wouldn't justify a post, this time the data was used to train Bard, Google's new AI engine. This is likely the first fine related to copyrighted material used for AI training.

Once again, we see the diverging strategies of EMEA and AMER:

- The former focuses on building a regulatory framework first and is now enforcing fines.

- The latter prioritizes building technology before creating regulatory rules. Possibly by decision, or most likely due to the technology leadership of the private sector and the public law maker lagging behind.

While both approaches face criticism, the danger for Europe is to stifle an emerging industry with constraints before reaping the first benefits.

Meanwhile, French President Macron has repeatedly emphasized France's ambitions in the digital innovation market. Imposing fines on GAFA could indirectly help local startups while aiding a heavily indebted country.

We can expect these fines to become more frequent before there's some stabilization in both the methodology for selecting data for AI training and the regulation.

But ultimately, what is the valuation of having an entire country's information pushed into a worldwide AI brain?

Think encore !