Open Letter: AI Experts urge Von der Leyen to Resist Attacks on GPAI Code of Practice
ALLAI President Catelijne Muller co-signed an open letter urgently calling on European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to resist pressure from those attacking the GPAI Code of Practice at the last minute.
“We must move away from the false narrative that regulation stifles innovation” says Catelijne. “First of all, AI never operated in a lawless world. The safety of people always had to be protected. Whether we drive the car ourselves or AI does the driving, people should not get hit. Discrimination has always been prohibited, whether it happens from the gut or through AI. Equal cases must be treated equally. And because certain parties have ignored those rules for a long time, it was decided to reify them through the AI Act and the GPAI Code of Practice.”
The final version of the GPAI Code of Practice is expected shortly and was developed with input from over a 1,000 experts and a small number of GPAI providers. The Code of Practice is planned to apply as from August 2, 2025. Lobbyists are making a final push to water down its content or derail it all together.
Catelijne: “Rules are there for a reason. Legislation is not made to prevent innovation. Or to bully entrepreneurs. Legislation is there to protect us from unwanted developments and excesses. It prevents harmful manipulation by AI. It protects our children from exploitative AI. It prevents mass surveillance by the police, and social scores based on our everyday behavior or our personality, to name but a few examples. It also creates a level playing field where every entrepreneur has equal opportunities to thrive.”
“The ‘regulation stifles innovation argument’ is in fact a very weak argument. A true innovator should not put his hands up in the air crying ‘we cannot develop AI if we have to stay within the rules’. It would be like saying: we cannot build a car if it has to have brakes”, says Catelijne. “No, a true innovator designs a car with brakes.”
The letter was referenced in the following media:
