German Chancellor and Siemens CEO slam EU AI regulation

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Siemens  CEO Roland Busch (pictured)criticised the EU’s regulatory approach at the Hannover Fair at the weekend, reports Bloomberg.

Siemens’ €1 billion investment in AI will be mostly spent in the US sayid CEO Roland Busch because of EU regulation..

“It’s complete nonsense to treat industrial and machine data the same way as personal data,” Busch said, “I can’t explain to my shareholders why I’m investing money in an environment where I’m being held back.”

loo Busch said that the EU rules treat industrial AI like consumer AI adding to regulation where sector-specific rules already apply.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz supports Busch’s view saying that the German government will try to “extricate industrial AI from the current, overly restrictive straitjacket of the EU’s regulatory framework.”

“We simply cannot proceed as was once envisioned in Brussels many years ago — at a time when the sheer scale and scope of AI applications were not even remotely anticipated,” said Merz.