Rishi Sunak is set to meet with Joe Biden to pitch the UK as the home of a proposed new global AI regulator. Credit: Rob Carr/Getty Images North America
U.S. data giant Palantir said the UK is a better place to develop artificial intelligence (AI) than the EU thanks to more 'pragmatic' privacy laws in support of Rishi Sunak.< /p>
Chief Executive Director Alex Karp said Brussels' draconian data protection regime means “you can do things in the UK that you can't do on the continent”.
Mr. Karp's comments sound like the Prime Minister is about to meet with President Joe Biden to pitch the UK as the home of a proposed new global AI regulator.
Mr. Sunak aims to position the country as a world leader in emerging technologies. Mr Karp told the BBC that the UK “is in a position to become a leader in Europe and possibly the world.”
Palantir's CEO said: “There is a general understanding in the UK that you need data, you need to be able to understand data in order to actually do important things in the public and private sectors.”
Palantir's technology is being used by the Western military and intelligence agencies, including in Ukraine, and has been widely used in the NHS to help with vaccine deployment.
The company has deployed “large language model” (LLM) chatbots like ChatGPT or Google Bard that allow its customers to quickly and easily query huge amounts of data. It is not clear if LLMs are compatible with strict European GDPR data laws.
The Italian data regulator briefly banned ChatGPT earlier this year over privacy concerns. Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, said it might have to be shut down in Europe, although he later declined to comment. .jpg” />Palantir head Alex Karp suggests that the UK has a more “pragmatic understanding of data protection” than the EU. Photo: Eddie Mulholland
While the UK borrowed GDPR protection from the EU after Brexit, it has proposed relaxing some rules and the Office of the Information Commissioner has said it will take a common sense approach to enforce the laws.
< p>Mr Karp said: “The UK, unlike many places in the world, has a pragmatic understanding of data protection. It will be much more difficult for the European continent to negotiate with an LLM, the privacy culture in the UK is really built on fairness and understanding rather than GDPR data protection.
“If you” If you are a pharmaceutical company and you want to do drug research, you can do what you can do in the UK, what you can't do on the continent, you have pragmatism about technology.”
Mr Karp also dismissed calls from Elon Musk and others to put AI development on hold , stating that many are “asking for a pause because they don't have a product.”
Palantir's praise comes amid fears in London that the US and the EU could reach an agreement to regulate AI without UK involvement, leaving the UK as the maker of the rules rather than the maker.
Downing Street wants to create a global forum for shaping global AI norms, including countries like Japan and South Korea. A government spokesman said: “AI has incredible potential to change our lives for the better. But we need to make sure it is developed and used in a safe and secure way.”
Earlier in May, the Prime Minister met with leaders from leading AI companies, including OpenAI, Google Deepmind and Anthropic. urged them to think carefully about the risks posed by the technology.
The Prime Minister is expected to meet with the President on Thursday following the announcement that the UK will host a global AI security summit in September.
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