Microsoft is currently facing pressure from European regulators over possible risks connected to the AI capabilities of its Bing search engine. The tech giant has a deadline of 27 May to provide the requested information on Copilot and Image Creator AI features to the EU Commission.
This means that if Microsoft goes past this date it could be fined up to 1% of its annual global revenue under the EU’s new Digital Services Act. Such a fine may go beyond $2 billion as Microsoft reported a revenue in excess of $211 billion for 2023.
It was also stated by the Commission that Bing’s generative AI systems may be used for spreading misinformation, deepfakes, or other manipulations with services misleading voters about their choice. There are concerns that hallucinations, where AI outputs involve false content, might be dangerous.
An EU spokesperson said, “Bing may pose risks linked to generative AI, such as so-called ‘hallucinations’, deepfakes, as well as the automated manipulation of services that can mislead voters”
Microsoft has not yet spoken publicly on this request by the Commission. Nevertheless, the company will probably contend that its AI systems have strong safeguards and content moderation mechanisms that can identify and filter out harmful results.
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