Brexit means UK can be global leader on AI, says Facebook co-founder

Brexit means the UK has the independence to be a global leader in artificial intelligence (AI), according to the co-founder of Facebook.

Dustin Moskovitz, the chief executive of software company Asana, has claimed Brussels’ heavy-handed approach to regulation meant it was “better that the UK is out of the EU”.

Speaking ahead of Rishi Sunak’s AI summit at Bletchley Park, the internet entrepreneur said he was “far more concerned about regulatory friction” in the EU than in Britain.

“The UK is talking about AI in more appropriate ways,” Mr Moskovitz argued in remarks reported by The Times.

Mr Moskovitz, who co-founded Facebook with Mark Zuckerberg, said Britain was “taking a much more forward approach on developing the technology and acting more like leaders who want to find the way forward”.

He added: “London is a huge gravitational force. I’m glad the UK can go its own way. There is a role for the UK breaking apart and having much more access to this technology until the EU figures it out.”

Speaking ahead of the November summit set to feature world leaders and tech bosses, Mr Moskovitz said he feared that the EU “could ban large-language models completely”.

He added: “They’re not compatible with GDPR and the right to be forgotten, so you either ignore that law or you need a new one.”

GDPR – the General Data Protection Regulation – is the EU’s set of rules on information privacy. While they no longer apply to the UK after Brexit, there have been codified into law as ‘UK GDPR’.

Experts have warned that AI tools which analyse huge amounts of personal information could fall foul of data privacy rules.

No 10 has said it is “confident” that key players will attend its AI summit amid reports that chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany may snub the summit.

It is not yet clear which international leaders will attend the gathering at Bletchley Park in November which is intended to discuss how to ensure AI can be used safely around the world.

Mr Sunak’s spokesman said on Monday that government officials “remain confident we will have the right group of individuals” at the two-day event next month.

A Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology spokesperson said: “We cannot reap the benefits of AI in areas like healthcare, climate change and beyond without working towards a shared, global understanding of the risks we face.”