European Commission wants more information about Microsoft’s AI

European Commission wants more information about Microsoft’s AI


Microsoft had to provide the European Commission with information about the AI ​​system, but did not do so sufficiently.

The European Union is warning Microsoft because the company is not sharing enough information about their AI systems. Microsoft offers Copilot in Bing. Although that search engine does not fall under the European Digital Markets Act, the Digital Services Act does apply to it.

Digital Services Act

That puts Microsoft in a difficult position. As part of the DSA, the company had to provide an extensive risk analysis to the EU. Microsoft has known since March that the European Commission expected that report, but did not deliver it. The company still has ten days to get everything in order, and must therefore be able to report on March 27.

Doesn’t Microsoft do that? This can result in heavy fines, with amounts of up to 5% of annual worldwide turnover. In the event that Microsoft submits an incomplete report, it will still have to pay a fine. This is a lot lower, with amounts up to 1% of the global annual turnover.

Bing is referred to under DSA laws as a ‘Very Large Online Search Engine’ or VLOSE. This mainly means that the platform must comply with stricter rules than other search engines that do not have this status. The European Commission is mainly concerned with the generative AI functions incorporated in Bing, such as Copilot and Image Creator. The Commission is concerned about the security and transparency of these AI tools.

According to the European Commission, these AI tools could steer the public discourse and therefore also the elections in a certain direction. This could happen through deepfakes, but also through the “automated manipulation of services”. The Commission primarily wants to hear how Microsoft itself assesses these risks and how it tries to mitigate them.

The request for information is not an accusation, but a way to ensure that Microsoft has everything in order. What happens next will depend on the information Microsoft delivers.