Stripe co-founder Patrick Collison and other senior tech and industry figures – including people from Meta and Spotify – have warned that the EU risks economic decline if it doesn’t get on top of artificial intelligence regulation.

In an open letter to regulators and policy makers, published today in multiple European media outlets, dozens of giant European and US firms say that Europe will lose out on as much as 10pc of GDP if it does not get to grips with how to handle AI rules.

‘Europe faces a choice that will impact the region for decades’ the tech firms warn

“The reality is Europe has become less competitive and less innovative compared to other regions, and it now risks falling further behind in the AI era due to inconsistent regulatory decision making,” says the open letter.

It is also signed by fashion firms Prada and EssilorLuxottica, engineering companies Ericsson, Pirelli and Thyssenkrupp, and by a group of senior researchers and trade organisations.

It comes after a major report from former European Central Bank president Mario Draghi said over-regulation was strangling EU industry.

This week, Apple’s iPhone 16 launched without its main “Apple Intelligence” feature being available to customers in the EU. Apple said it could not release the technology here because of regulatory uncertainty over AI.

The Data Protection Commission is not taking a lead on privacy-related AI regulatory issues

Similarly, Meta said it cannot release its next batch of “multi-modal” AI in the European Union, because of uncertainty over who is in charge of AI or how rules will be interpreted.

One pinch point, companies say, is that the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) is no longer taking a lead on privacy-related AI regulatory issues, but is instead referring questions to a pan-European committee for drawn-out discussions.

This approach, which differs sharply from the DPC’s previous “one-stop-shop” approach under GDPR, means companies no longer have clarity over who is likely to interpret GDPR in relation to emerging AI issues.

“Europe faces a choice that will impact the region for decades,” the open letter warns.

“It can choose to reassert the principle of harmonisation enshrined in regulatory frameworks like the GDPR, and offer a modern interpretation of GDPR provisions that still respects its underlying values, so that AI innovation happens here at the same scale and speed as elsewhere.

“Or it can continue to reject progress, contradict the ambitions of the single market and watch as the rest of the world builds on technologies that Europeans will not have access to.”

Reporting on:independent.ie