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☆ Exclusive-Google to Launch Anti-Misinformation Campaign Ahead of EU Elections
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-15 | by ( Feb. | At P.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +3 min

By Martin CoulterLONDON (Reuters) - Google is preparing to launch an anti-misinformation campaign across five countries in the European Union (EU), the company told Reuters ahead of the bloc's parliamentary elections and tougher new rules tackling online content. France, Poland and Germany accused Russia on Monday of putting together an elaborate network of websites to spread pro-Russian propaganda. Jigsaw's ads will be translated into all 24 official EU languages, the company said. The campaign will run for at least one month, with a view to extend it based on reach and performance. Results from the campaign, including survey responses and the number of people reached, are expected to be published in summer 2024.

Persons: Martin Coulter, Jigsaw, We've, Beth Goldberg, Goldberg, Matt Scuffham, Elaine Hardcastle Organizations: Martin Coulter LONDON, Google, European Union, Russia, Europe's Digital Services, YouTube, Universities of Cambridge Locations: France, Poland, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Europe, Bristol, Ukraine

☆ Amazon latest to criticise Microsoft in UK cloud market probe
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-05 | by ( Martin Coulter | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Fabian Bimmer/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsLONDON, Dec 5 (Reuters) - Amazon (AMZN.O) has told Britain's antitrust authority its rival Microsoft (MSFT.O) uses business practices that restrict customer choice in the cloud computing market, the second major company to criticise the U.S. tech giant's operations. Britain's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched an investigation into the country’s cloud computing industry in October, following a referral from media regulator Ofcom that highlighted Amazon and Microsoft’s dominance of the market. “To use many of Microsoft’s software products with these other cloud services providers, a customer must purchase a separate license even if they already own the software,” Amazon said. In its own submission to the CMA, Microsoft said Britain's cloud computing market remained competitive. "There are many sources of competition in the cloud market in the UK.

Persons: Fabian Bimmer, Amazon, Martin Coulter, Jane Merriman, Mark Potter Organizations: Microsoft, Hannover Messe, REUTERS, Britain's, Markets Authority, CMA, Ofcom, ”, Reuters, Google, Oracle, IBM, Thomson Locations: Hanover, Germany

Foundation models like the one built by Microsoft (MSFT.O)-backed OpenAI are AI systems trained on large sets of data, with the ability to learn from new data to perform various tasks. In a meeting of the countries' economy ministers on Oct. 30 in Rome, France persuaded Italy and Germany to support a proposal, sources told Reuters. Until then, negotiations had gone smoothly, with lawmakers making compromises across several other conflict areas such as regulating high-risk AI, sources said. France-based AI company Mistral and Germany's Aleph Alpha have criticised the tiered approach to regulating foundation models, winning support from their respective countries. Other pending issues in the talks include definition of AI, fundamental rights impact assessment, law enforcement exceptions and national security exceptions, sources told Reuters.

Persons: Carlos Barria, Thierry Breton, Geoffrey Hinton, Alpha, Mistral, Mark Brakel, Supantha Mukherjee, Josephine Mason, Alexander Smith Organizations: Technology, Intelligence, REUTERS, Rights, Reuters, Foundation, Microsoft, European Commission, Mistral, Lawmakers, Life Institute, Thomson Locations: San Francisco, California, U.S, Rights STOCKHOLM, BRUSSELS, LONDON, France, Germany, Italy, Rome, Spain, Belgium, Stockholm

Vice Chairman of Microsoft Brad Smith looks on during the 5th Summit of "Christchurch Call", at the Elysee Presidential Palace in Paris, France November 10, 2023. LUDOVIC MARIN/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsLONDON, Nov 30 (Reuters) - The president of tech giant Microsoft (MSFT.O) said there is no chance of super-intelligent artificial intelligence being created within the next 12 months, and cautioned that the technology could be decades away. Reuters last week exclusively reported that the ouster came shortly after researchers had contacted the board, warning of a dangerous discovery they feared could have unintended consequences. However, Microsoft President Brad Smith, speaking to reporters in Britain on Thursday, rejected claims of a dangerous breakthrough. Asked if such a discovery contributed to Altman's removal, Smith said: "I don't think that is the case at all.

Persons: Microsoft Brad Smith, LUDOVIC MARIN, Sam Altman, Brad Smith, It's, Smith, ” Smith, Martin Coulter, Sharon Singleton, Mark Porter Organizations: Microsoft, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Christchurch, Elysee, Paris, France, Britain

☆ Exclusive: Google pushes for antitrust action against Microsoft in UK cloud market
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-30 | by ( Martin Coulter | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

In 2022, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft's Azure had a combined 70-80% share of Britain's public cloud infrastructure services market, Ofcom said. Such practices directly harmed customers, and were the only significant barrier to competition in Britain’s cloud computing market, the company said. "A lot of our software and cloud services interoperate, and can run on AWS or on Azure as well, so you're not restricted," he said. "If you don't fix this, eventually you will have fewer cloud providers, and then innovation will not really happen, and investments will start shrinking." Asked why Amazon, which boasts a larger share of the cloud market than Microsoft, did not pose a similarly anticompetitive risk, Zavery said AWS consumers were not facing the same restrictions.

Persons: Arnd, Amit Zavery, Microsoft’s, Zavery, ”, Martin Coulter, Jeffrey Dastin, Kenneth Li Organizations: REUTERS, Microsoft, Reuters, European Union, CMA, Markets Authority, Ofcom, Amazon Web Services, Google, Google Cloud, Thomson Locations: Zurich, Switzerland, Britain, London, New York

☆ Google DeepMind AI reveals potential for thousands of new materials
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-29 | by ( Martin Coulter | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Google logo and AI Artificial Intelligence words are seen in this illustration taken, May 4, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration Acquire Licensing RightsLONDON, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Google DeepMind has used artificial intelligence (AI) to predict the structure of more than 2 million new materials, a breakthrough it said could soon be used to improve real-world technologies. The discovery and synthesis of new materials can be a costly and time-consuming process. DeepMind’s AI was trained on data from the Materials Project, an international research group founded at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in 2011, made up of existing research of around 50,000 already-known materials. Having used AI to predict the stability of these new materials, DeepMind said it would now turn its focus to predicting how easily they can be synthesised in the lab.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, “ We're, ”, Ekin Dogus, Kristin Persson, DeepMind, Martin Coulter, Jan Harvey Organizations: REUTERS, Google, Materials, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Thomson

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, attends the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit in San Francisco, California, U.S. November 16, 2023. In recent weeks, talks have hit stumbling blocks over the extent to which companies should be allowed to self-regulate. Alexandra van Huffelen, Dutch minister for digitalisation, told Reuters the OpenAI saga underscored the need for strict rules. "Please don't gut the EU AI Act; we need it now more than ever." Reporting by Martin Coulter and Supantha Mukherjee; Editing by Susan FentonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Sam Altman, Carlos Barria, Altman, OpenAI’s, Brando Benifei, ”, Alexandra van Huffelen, Gary Marcus, Martin Coulter, Supantha Mukherjee, Susan Fenton Organizations: Economic Cooperation, REUTERS, European Commission, EU, Reuters, Microsoft, New York University, Thomson Locations: Asia, San Francisco , California, U.S, European, OpenAI, France, Germany, Italy

The Apple logo is shown atop an Apple store at a shopping mall in La Jolla, California, U.S., December 17, 2019. The tough new legislation targets 22 "gatekeeper" services, run by six tech companies - Microsoft (MSFT.O), Apple (AAPL.O), Alphabet's (GOOGL.O) Google, Amazon (AMZN.O), Meta and ByteDance's TikTok. While details of Apple's legal challenge have not been made public, Bloomberg News reported last week the company would challenge the inclusion of its App Store on the list of gatekeepers. Fellow tech giants Meta (META.O) and TikTok had already filed appeals disputing the Commission's decision to include their services. In its appeal, Meta said it disagreed with the Commission's decision to designate its Messenger and Marketplace services under the DMA.

Persons: Mike Blake, TikTok, Meta, Martin Coulter, Louise Heavens Organizations: REUTERS, European Commission, Justice, European Union, Microsoft, Apple, Google, Meta, Bloomberg News, Facebook, Thomson Locations: La Jolla , California, U.S, Europe

☆ Elon Musk's X restructuring curtails disinformation research, spurs legal fears
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-06 | by ( Sheila Dang | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +9 min

It also shows a majority of survey respondents fear being sued by X over their findings or use of data. European Union regulators are also currently investigating X's handling of disinformation, which was the focus of multiple stalled or canceled independent research studies, the survey found. She helped conduct the research survey for the coalition, a global group with more than 300 members, that works to advance the study of technology's impact on society. 'X' logo is seen on the top of the headquarters of the messaging platform X, formerly known as Twitter, in downtown San Francisco, California, U.S., July 30, 2023. Short-form video app TikTok announced an academic research API earlier this year, but its onerous terms and conditions limit its usefulness for researchers, said Megan A.

Persons: Elon, Musk's, Josephine Lukito, Musk, Carlos Barria, Lukito, Tim Weninger, Megan A, Brown, X, CCDH, Imran Ahmed, Bond Benton, Linda Yaccarino, Sheila Dang, Zeba Siddiqui, Martin Coulter, Supantha Mukherjee, Kenneth Li, Anna Driver Organizations: Social, Reuters, Twitter, Coalition for Independent Technology Research, Center, Union, University of Texas, San, EU, Reuters Graphics, REUTERS, University of Notre Dame, New York University, Tech Policy Press, Facebook, Montclair State University, Sprinklr, Thomson Locations: Israel, Gaza, quantifies, U.S, Australian, Austin, San Francisco, San Francisco , California, China, Sprinklr, London, Stockholm

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak attends an in-conversation event with Tesla and SpaceX's CEO Elon Musk in London, Britain, Thursday, Nov. 2, 2023. Risks around rapidly-developing AI have been an increasingly high priority for policymakers since Microsoft-backed Open AI (MSFT.O) released ChatGPT to the public last year. "It was fascinating that just as we announced our AI safety institute, the Americans announced theirs," said attendee Nigel Toon, CEO of British AI firm Graphcore. China’s vice minister of science and technology said the country was willing to work with all sides on AI governance. Yoshua Bengio, an AI pioneer appointed to lead a "state of the science" report commissioned as part of the Bletchley Declaration, told Reuters the risks of open-source AI were a high priority.

Persons: Rishi Sunak, Tesla, Elon Musk, Kirsty Wigglesworth, Sam Altman, Kamala Harris, Ursula von der Leyen, China –, Sunak, Finance Bruno Le Maire, Vera Jourova, Jourova, Harris, Nigel Toon, Wu Zhaohui, Musk, you’ve, Martin Coulter, Paul Sandle, Matt Scuffham, Louise Heavens Organizations: British, Elon, U.S, European Commission, Microsoft, of, Finance, EU, Reuters, Thomson Locations: London, Britain, China, Bletchley, U.S, South Korea, France, United States

AI Artificial Intelligence words are seen in this illustration taken, May 4, 2023. Britain's technology minister Michelle Donelan said "the right people with the right expertise" would be around the table to discuss how to mitigate the risks of AI. China will be a key participant, given the country's role in developing AI technology, although questions have been raised by some lawmakers in Britain about its presence. The U.S. ambassador to Britain, Jane Hartley, said the AI conversation should be global, but added that the invitation to China had come from London. Reporting by Paul Sandle and Martin Coulter Editing by Mark PotterOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Rishi Sunak, Sam Altman, Sceptics, Kamala Harris, Ursula von der Leyen, Antonio Guterres, Michelle Donelan, Jane Hartley, Francois, Philippe Champagne, Paul Sandle, Martin Coulter, Mark Potter Organizations: REUTERS, Safety, European Union, Elon, Bletchley, European, U.S, United Nations, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Britain, United States, China, European Union, U.S, London

☆ China willing to enhance communication with all sides on AI regulation - vice minister
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

China's Vice Minister of Science and Technology Wu Zhaohui speaks on Day 1 of the AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park in Bletchley, Britain on November 1, 2023. The UK Government are hosting the AI Safety Summit bringing together international governments, leading AI companies, civil society groups and experts in research to... Acquire Licensing Rights Read moreLONDON, Nov 1 (Reuters) - China is willing to enhance communication with all sides on AI regulation, its vice minister of science and technology on Wednesday told a global AI summit in Britain. "China is willing to enhance our dialogue and communication in AI safety will all sides, contributing to an international mechanism with global participation in governance framework," Wu Zhaohui said, according to an official translation of his remarks. All nations have the right to develop and use artificial intelligence technology, Wu said. "We call for global cooperation to share AI knowledge and make AI technologies available to the public on open source terms."

Persons: Technology Wu Zhaohui, Wu Zhaohui, Wu, Martin Coulter, Paul Sandle, William James, Sachin Ravikumar Organizations: China's, Science, Technology, AI, Bletchley, Government, Wednesday, Thomson Locations: Bletchley, Britain, China

☆ UK AI Safety Summit: who will attend and what’s on the agenda?
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-31 | by ( Martin Coulter | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

LONDON, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Britain will host the world's first global artificial intelligence (AI) safety summit this week to examine the risks of the fast-growing technology and kickstart an international dialogue on regulation of it. The aim of the summit is to start a global conversation on the future regulation of AI. Currently there are no broad-based global regulations focusing on AI safety, although some governments have started drawing up their own rules. A recent Financial Times report said Sunak plans to launch a global advisory board for AI regulation, modeled on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). When Sunak announced the summit in June, some questioned how well-equipped Britain was to lead a global initiative on AI regulation.

Persons: Olaf Scholz, Justin Trudeau –, Kamala Harris, Ursula von der Leyen, Wu Zhaohui, Antonio Guterres, James, Demis Hassabis, Sam Altman, OpenAI, Elon Musk, “, Stuart Russell, Geoffrey Hinton, Alan Turing, Rishi Sunak, Sunak, Joe Biden, –, Martin Coulter, Josephine Mason, Christina Fincher Organizations: Bletchley, WHO, Canadian, European, United Nations, Google, Microsoft, HK, Billionaire, Alan, Alan Turing Institute, Life, European Union, British, EU, UN, Thomson Locations: Britain, England, Beijing, British, Alibaba, United States, China, U.S

☆ EU's von der Leyen to attend Britain's AI summit
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-27 | by ( Martin Coulter | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, and Vera Jourova, a vice president, will attend the summit, according to an update to their official calendars published on Friday. While Sunak hopes to secure Britain's role as a world leader in AI regulation, some have questioned what the summit will achieve in practice. Last week, Bloomberg reported a number of world leaders - including Germany's Olaf Scholz and Canada's Justin Trudeau - would not be attending. While several world leaders, including U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, are expected to attend the summit, the full guest list has not been made public. Matt Clifford, a tech investor and one of two chief organisers of the event, recently told Reuters the aim of the summit was to kickstart international dialogue on AI regulation.

Persons: Ursula von der Leyen, Vera Jourova, Rishi Sunak, Alan Turing, Sunak, Germany's Olaf Scholz, Canada's Justin Trudeau, Kamala Harris, Matt Clifford, Clifford, We're, Martin Coulter, Christina Fincher, Sharon Singleton Organizations: U.S, European Commission, British, Bletchley, Bloomberg, Reuters, Thomson Locations: England

☆ EU's Breton confirms investigations into three tech platforms, including X
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-26 | by ( Martin Coulter | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] 'X' logo is seen on the top of the headquarters of the messaging platform X, formerly known as Twitter, in downtown San Francisco, California, U.S., July 30, 2023. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsLONDON, Oct 26 (Reuters) - EU industry chief Thierry Breton has launched investigations into three tech platforms over content moderation decisions, including Elon Musk's X. The tech giants have faced mounting scrutiny in recent weeks, with a surge in harmful content and disinformation following Hamas' attack on Israel. Under the bloc's wide-sweeping Digital Services Act, very large tech platforms and search engines must do more to tackle illegal content and risks to public security, and to protect their services against manipulative techniques. Speaking during a radio interview with France Inter, Breton did not specify the other two platforms being investigated.

Persons: Carlos Barria, Thierry Breton, Elon Musk's, Breton, Martin Coulter, Jason Neely Organizations: REUTERS, Services, France Inter, Thomson Locations: San Francisco , California, U.S, Israel

After two years of negotiations, the bill was approved by the European parliament in May. At Tuesday's meeting which lasted until midnight, lawmakers agreed on most parts of Article 6 of the draft AI Act, one of the stumbling blocks in talks, the sources said, declining to give further details on what was agreed. Article 6 outlines the types of AI systems that will be designated "high risk", and therefore subject to greater regulatory scrutiny, the sources said. Ahead of Tuesday's meeting, Reuters reported citing sources that European lawmakers were yet to agree on several issues leaving any deal off the table until December. Failure to reach a deal could push negotiations to early next year, increasing the risk that discussions are further derailed by European parliament elections in June.

Persons: Dragos Tudorache, Brando Benifei, Benifei, Supantha Mukherjee, Martin Coulter, Elvira Pollina, Josephine Mason, Kirsten Donovan Organizations: Union, Reuters, EU, Thomson Locations: STOCKHOLM, LONDON, MILAN, Stockholm, London, Milan

☆ Britain aims for global leadership role with AI safety summit
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-18 | by ( Martin Coulter | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsLONDON, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Britain will host the world's first global artificial intelligence (AI) safety summit next month, aiming to carve out a role following Brexit as an arbiter between the United States, China, and the European Union in a key tech sector. The Nov. 1-2 summit will focus heavily on the existential threat some lawmakers, including Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, fear AI poses. Sunak, who wants the UK to become a hub for AI safety, has warned the technology could be used by criminals and terrorists to create weapons of mass destruction. Critics question why Britain has appointed itself the centre of AI safety. "We are now reflecting on potential EU participation," a spokesperson told Reuters.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Rishi Sunak, Sunak, Alan Turing, Kamala Harris, Demis, Matt Clifford, Clifford, we're, Stephanie Hare, Elon Musk, Geoffrey Hinton, Britain, OpenAI, Marc Warner, it's, Vera Jourova, Brando Benifei, Dragos Tudorache, Benifei, Jeremy Hunt, Martin Coulter, Matt Scuffham, Mark Potter Organizations: REUTERS, European Union, Britain's, EU, Bletchley, Google, San, Reuters, China . Finance, Politico, Thomson Locations: Britain, United States, China, England, British, France, Germany, London, U.S, San Francisco, Beijing, Europe

☆ EU urges Big Tech to tackle terrorist content after Hamas attack
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-11 | by ( Martin Coulter | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

In his letters to Musk and Zuckerberg, Breton said their companies had 24 hours to inform the EU how they were stopping harmful content on their platforms. Now, the European Commission, the EU’s executive branch, has sought to remind all social media companies they are legally required to prevent the spread of harmful content related to Hamas. “Content circulating online that can be associated to Hamas qualifies as terrorist content, is illegal, and needs to be removed under both the DSA (Digital Services Act) and TCO (Terrorist Content Online) Regulation,” a Commission spokesperson told Reuters. The Commission urges online platforms to fully comply with EU rules.”The recently implemented DSA requires large online platforms, including X and Meta’s Facebook, to remove illegal content and to take measures to tackle the risks to public security and civic discourse. It is unclear if Breton has sent similar messages to other social media companies designated under the DSA.

Persons: Carlos Barria, Thierry Breton, Elon, Mark Zuckerberg, Zuckerberg, Breton, Martin Coulter, Bernadette Baum, Josie Kao Organizations: REUTERS, EU, LONDON, European, Hamas, European Commission, DSA, Services, Reuters, Facebook, Thomson Locations: San Francisco , California, U.S, Israel, Palestinian, Gaza, Breton, Europe

☆ British lawmakers call for pause in live facial recognition surveillance
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-05 | by ( Martin Coulter | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Reuters TV via REUTERS/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsLONDON, Oct 6 (Reuters) - A cross-party coalition of 65 British lawmakers called on Friday for a pause in use of live facial recognition surveillance on the country's streets. British police have previously deployed live facial recognition at a number of large-scale public events, including the recent coronation of King Charles II. In a joint statement published on Friday, lawmakers from across the political spectrum said: "We call on UK police and private companies to immediately stop using live facial recognition for public surveillance." Signatories included veteran Conservative MP David Davis, Labour politicians Diane Abbott and John McDonnell, and Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey. "There must be an urgent stop to live facial recognition, parliamentary scrutiny, and a much wider democratic debate before we introduce such privacy-altering technology to British life."

Persons: King Charles II, Chris Philp, David Davis, Diane Abbott, John McDonnell, Ed Davey, Silkie Carlo, Martin Coulter, Alex Richardson Organizations: Reuters, REUTERS, Amnesty International, European Union . British, Conservative, Labour, Liberal, Big Brother Watch, Runnymede Trust, Big Brother, Thomson Locations: London, Britain, Runnymede

[1/2] 3D printed clouds and figurines are seen in front of the Microsoft Azure cloud service logo in this illustration taken February 8, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration Acquire Licensing RightsLONDON, Oct 3 (Reuters) - British media regulator Ofcom will this week push for an antitrust investigation into Amazon (AMZN.O) and Microsoft's (MSFT.O) dominance of the UK's cloud computing market, according to two sources familiar with the matter. Between them, Amazon and Microsoft enjoy a combined market share of 60-70%. Ofcom warned the current state of Britain's cloud computing market made it difficult for some existing customers to bargain for a good deal with their provider. Amazon, Microsoft, the CMA, and Ofcom did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Martin Coulter, Foo Yun Chee, Matthew Scuffham Organizations: Microsoft, REUTERS, Ofcom, Google, CMA, Thomson Locations: British

[1/2] 3D printed clouds and figurines are seen in front of the Microsoft Azure cloud service logo in this illustration taken February 8, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration Acquire Licensing RightsLONDON, Oct 3 (Reuters) - British media regulator Ofcom will this week push for an antitrust investigation into Amazon (AMZN.O) and Microsoft's (MSFT.O) dominance of the UK's cloud computing market, according to two sources familiar with the matter. Between them, Amazon and Microsoft enjoy a combined market share of 60-70% of Britain's cloud computing industry. Ofcom warned the current state of Britain's cloud computing market made it difficult for some existing customers to bargain for a good deal with their provider. Both Amazon and Microsoft previously said they would continue working with Ofcom ahead of the publication of its final report.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Martin Coulter, Foo Yun Chee, Matthew Scuffham, Susan Fenton Organizations: Microsoft, REUTERS, Ofcom, Google, CMA, Thomson Locations: British, EU, U.S, China

☆ EU considering whether to attend Britain's AI summit, spokesperson says
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-22 | by ( Martin Coulter | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsLONDON, Sept 22 (Reuters) - The European Union is considering whether to send officials to Britain's upcoming artificial intelligence safety summit, a spokesperson told Reuters, as the bloc nears completion of wide-ranging AI legislation that is the first of its kind globally. European Commission Vice President Vera Jourova has received a formal invitation to the summit, the spokesperson said, adding: "We are now reflecting on potential EU participation." However, the Financial Times reported that British government officials favour a less "draconian" approach to AI regulation than the EU. Last month, Clifford told Reuters he hoped the summit would set the tone for future international debates on AI regulation. While a number of world leaders, including U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, are expected to attend the summit, it largely remains unknown who else has been invited -- or who has accepted an invitation.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Rishi Sunak, Vera Jourova, Sunak, Matt Clifford, Jonathan Black, Clifford, Kamala Harris, Jeremy Hunt, Martin Coulter, Hugh Lawson Organizations: REUTERS, European, British, Financial Times, EU, Tech, Reuters, U.S, Politico, Thomson Locations: European Union, Britain, China

A few compounds picked by AI are now in development, but those bets will take years to play out. Reuters interviews with more than a dozen pharmaceutical company executives, drug regulators, public health experts and AI firms show, however, that the technology is playing a sizeable and growing role in human drug trials. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said it had received about 300 applications that incorporate AI or machine learning in drug development from 2016 through 2022. Without AI, Bayer said it would have spent millions more, and taken up to nine months longer to recruit volunteers. Finding real-world patients by mining electronic patient data can be done manually, but using AI speeds up the process dramatically.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Jeffrey Morgan, Amgen, Badhri Srinivasan, Sameer Pujari, drugmaker Bayer, Bayer, Blythe Adamson, Roche, Richard Pazdur, Gen Li, John Concato, Natalie Grover, Martin Coulter, Julie Steenhuysen, Josephine Mason, David Clarke Organizations: Pharmaceutical Research, REUTERS, Pharmaceutical, Bayer, Novartis, Deloitte, U.S . Food, Drug Administration, Reuters, World Health, Flatiron Health, FDA, European Medicines Agency, FDA's Oncology, Excellence, Medical, FDA's Center, Drug, Research, Thomson Locations: U.S, Johannesburg, Texas, Finland, United States, London, Chicago

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration Acquire Licensing RightsBRUSSELS/STOCKHOLM, Sept 21 (Reuters) - European Union lawmaker Brando Benifei, who is leading negotiations on artificial intelligence rules, on Thursday urged EU countries to compromise in key areas in order to reach agreement with the bloc's executive by the end of the year. The thorniest issues are biometric surveillance and copyrighted material used by ChatGPT and other generative AI. Lawmakers want a ban on AI use in biometric surveillance but EU countries led by France want exceptions for national security, defence and military purposes. Lawmakers also want AI legislation to cover copyrighted material used by companies like OpenAI, backed by Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O), while EU countries say the bloc's current copyright rules offer sufficient protection. Copyright should be dealt with in the copyright law," she told Reuters, chiming with EU countries on the second matter.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Brando Benifei, Benifei, Alexandra van Huffelen, Svenja Hahn, Guillaume Couneson, Linklaters, Foo Yun Chee, Martin Coulter, Kirsten Donovan Organizations: REUTERS, Union, European Commission, Microsoft Corp, Reuters, UN, Assembly, Global Tech Sector, Thomson Locations: BRUSSELS, STOCKHOLM, France, Europe, New York, Spain, London

LONDON, Sept 13 (Reuters) - France's radiation watchdog has banned sales of Apple's (AAPL.O) iPhone 12 after tests that it said showed the smartphone breached European radiation exposure limits. Apple disputes the watchdog's conclusions, saying the iPhone 12 was certified by multiple international bodies as compliant with global radiation standards. The ANFR said it recently carried out random tests on 141 phones, including iPhone 12, bought from shops. Smartphone radiation tests have so far led to 42 imposed sale stops in the country, it said. The ANFR said the iPhone 12 had failed to meet European Union standards, raising questions over whether more sales bans could be coming elsewhere.

Persons: Jean, Noel Barrot, Le, ANFR, Rodney Croft, Apple, Martin Coulter, Jennifer Rigby, Elizabeth Pineau, Mark Potter, Josie Kao Organizations: Agence Nationale des, Apple, Digital Minister, Reuters, International Commission, EU, WHO, International Agency for Research, Cancer, APPLE, Union, Germany's Federal, for Radiation, Thomson Locations: France

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