Microsoft

is leaning towards signing the European Union’s AI code of practice even as Mark Zuckerberg-led Meta has rejected the guidelines, citing significant "legal uncertainties." According to a report, the Windows maker appears to sign the European Union's voluntary code of practice designed to help companies comply with the bloc's landmark Artificial Intelligence Act.According to a report by news agency Reuters, Microsoft President Brad Smith said on Friday (July 18) that the company will have to read the documents. “I think it's likely we will sign. We need to read the documents,” Smith said. “Our goal is to find a way to be supportive and at the same time one of the things we really welcome is the direct engagement by the AI Office with industry,” he added, referring to the EU's primary AI regulatory body.

The code of practice, developed by 13 independent experts, aims to offer legal clarity to its signatories. Companies that sign on will be required to publish summaries of the data used to train their general-purpose AI models and implement policies adhering to EU copyright law. This code forms a component of the AI Act, which officially came into force in June 2024 and will apply to a vast array of tech companies, including Google's parent company Alphabet, Meta, OpenAI, Anthropic and Mistral.

Meta, however, has reiterated its strong criticism of the code with Joel Kaplan, Meta's chief global affairs officer, stating in a LinkedIn blog post that the social media giant won’t sign it. “Meta won't be signing it. This code introduces a number of legal uncertainties for model developers, as well as measures which go far beyond the scope of the AI Act,” he said.Kaplan indicated that the US social media giant shares concerns previously raised by a group of 45 European companies. He warned that this perceived “over-reach will throttle the development and deployment of frontier AI models in Europe, and stunt European companies looking to build businesses on top of them.”Notably, other prominent AI developers, OpenAI and Mistral, have already signed the code of practice.