Part of that strategy includes the creation of a third way on global tech rules, a middle ground between the EU’s tough regulatory environment and the largely unregulated landscape in the United States. White calls the U.K.’s approach to tech “proportional, fair, rational, consistent, open for conversation” — adjectives he sets in implicit contrast to the EU’s rigorous rules or Washington’s toothless tech-bashing.
“Given that governments all over the world are freaked out by this, who would you rather be able to have an ongoing conversation with where you hope to get to a decent outcome?” White said. De Graaf didn’t mince words: “We don’t see the U.K. as rivals,” the EU’s tech envoy told POLITICO. “We don’t need to convince Silicon Valley,” he said.
Russell Wald, director of policy for Stanford University’s Institute for Human-Centered AI, said that’s precisely why Sunak and his government are now cozying up to Washington on AI. “The companies we’re talking about are U.K. and U.S. companies,” White said. “That’s really where I think a lot of this will play out, in terms of what they’re doing and the governments that they listen to.”
“To say we’re a better bet than the EU, which has basically completely stifled its tech sector, is faint praise at best,” said one industry source, who requested anonymity to discuss the sensitive interplay between global tech regulators. The flurry of activity opened a gulf with Washington, where big tech — while often a political punching bag — saw little in the way of actual regulation by Congress.