The European Union continues to spread its regulatory tentacles across the Atlantic to thwart U.S. leadership in digital technology and artificial intelligence. Eurocrats are sae Set up a store in Silicon Valley Harass American tech companies. If this effort goes unchecked, it will undermine America's current lead in AI and become a gift to China. Rapidly evolving computing power.
In 2022,announced by the EUThe company has opened a new office in San Francisco to encourage American technology companies to keep pace with growing technology policies issued by Brussels. The EU is“Technology Embassy”” directly pressured American companies in Silicon Valley to comply with extraterritorial claims.
The head of the new EU office will be Gerard de Graaf, Silicon Valley's European “ambassador.” To staff it, hePublic job search has startedFor Europeans “passionate about digital policy and technology regulation”, thenclaimed thatU.S. technology companies should accept that “compliance is the name of the game” with Brussels bureaucrats, as “it's important to have a constructive relationship with regulators.”
Such threats are not surprising, given that Europe has already destroyed its digital technology infrastructure with mountains of red tape. today,19 of the 25 largest digital companiesAlthough there are many American companies in the world, it is difficult to name a major European technology leader. More and moreEurope regulates the path to the bottomEfforts in the technology sector are being stepped up through costly mandates such as the General Data Protection Regulation, the Digital Services Act, and the new AI Act.
When regulations applyThe continent's leading digital exportThe Eurocrats are here trying to shackle American companies with a similar mission, but at the same timeImposing record antitrust finesAnd even moreraid their officeI returned to Europe. The EU is considering hiring nextAI policy officerThe company's Silicon Valley office will “monitor developments related to compliance with EU AI law for providers and adopters of generative AI models and systems.”
Recent developments foreshadow how Euroharassment will develop in the future. Thierry Breton, European Commission Commissioner for Internal Market and Services, attended the 2023 ribbon-cutting ceremony for the EU's new high-tech embassy in San Francisco. Breton was recently in the news after sendingthreatening letterIt warned Elon Musk of serious consequences under EU law for the “risk of amplifying potentially harmful content”. The crime that Musk is said to have committed ishost a live interviewMusk met with former President Donald Trump on his X platform.
Mr. Brereton's letter directly threatened Americans' First Amendment rights, which some people argued were threatened.tantamount to election interferenceby foreign officials. But it's the kind of threat we can expect to see more of as our nation's Eurocrats sway tech companies in the name of “harmonization” with mandates that kill innovation and restrict speech. It is.
Biden administration officials have not bothered to come to Musk's defense, instead doing so.quietly cooperated with EU officialsTo American innovators. “There's a lot of sympathy in the Biden administration for what the European Union is doing,” Europe's De Graaf said.conclude with confidence. Indeed, the current governmentPursued stricter regulation of AI technologyAnd it's mainlyFar-reaching Executive OrderInstead of waiting for Congress.
Meanwhile, other domestic politicians pledged to work with the Eurocrats. California State Senator Scott Wiener, who represents San Francisco, warmly welcomed New EU Consulate General in the city. Wiener went on to sponsor a wide range of AI regulatory measures. SB-1047Which It passed recently California State Legislature. The bill proposes EU-style bureaucratic controls and follows the imitation of EU privacy regulations by states. California Consumer Privacy Act,just strengthen the hand of the EU By following their lead.
U.S. AI innovators are therefore at risk of being caught in the bureaucratic claws of Brussels and Sacramento. This is a recipe for stagnation that will only benefit China and other countriesthinking about running in frontRepresents the United States in computing ability.
Congress needs to get ahead of the curve with an AI policy framework that blocks proclamations that would crush innovation in Europe and California. meetingThis was done a generation agoFor the Internet by protecting the domestic market for digital commerce and speech. Members of Congress need to assert their authority.
The next administration must also do what the current administration has refused to do. It's about defending American innovators and the First Amendment from attacks by foreign officials that undermine American values and global competitiveness.
There is no need for a “technology embassy” in an American city when foreign countries already have embassies in Washington. The only office Europeans should set up in Silicon Valley is one filled with innovators seeking to escape the EU's oppressive regulatory regime that stifles entrepreneurial opportunities across the ocean.
Adam Thieller is a senior fellow in the Technology and Innovation Policy Program at the R Street Institute in Washington, DC.
