Meta has announced that it will not launch its upcoming multimodal AI model, which can handle video, audio, images and text, in the European Union, citing regulatory concerns. The move will prevent European companies from using the multimodal model, although it is released under an open license.
“We will be launching a multimodal Llama model in the coming months, but not in the EU due to the unpredictable nature of the European regulatory environment,” said Meta spokesperson Kate McLaughlin. The edge.
Last week, the EU Compliance deadlines finalized Tech companies operating in the EU will generally have until August 2026 to comply with rules on copyright, transparency and uses of AI such as predictive policing.
A text-only version of Meta’s Llama 3 model will still be launched in the EU, according to reports.
This leaves a difficult situation for companies outside the EU that hoped to supply products and services using these models, as they will not be able to offer them in one of the world’s largest economic markets.
The EU has not commented on Meta’s decision at the time of writing. Apple’s decision to potentially restrict the deployment of its AI has been criticized by the European Competition Commissioner, Margrethe Vestager.
