Coalition of European Creators Criticises AI Code of Conduct
brussel, donderdag, 31 juli 2025.
A coalition of European creators recently criticised the recently published European AI code of conduct on Wednesday. Despite extensive stakeholder involvement, the creators believe that the final guidelines fail to address core concerns and do not provide meaningful protection for intellectual property and copyright. The code of conduct is seen as particularly beneficial to AI companies and could seriously harm innovation.
Criticism from the Coalition
A coalition of European creators recently criticised the recently published European AI code of conduct on Wednesday. Despite extensive stakeholder involvement, the creators believe that the final guidelines fail to address core concerns and do not provide meaningful protection for intellectual property and copyright. The code of conduct is seen as particularly beneficial to AI companies and could seriously harm innovation [1].
Formal Criticism in a Letter
In a letter [2], forty organisations write: “Despite the extensive, highly detailed involvement of stakeholders throughout this process, the final results fall short and do not address the core concerns consistently raised by our sectors – and the millions of creators and businesses active in Europe that we represent.” The signatories of the letter call it “a missed opportunity” and state that it does not provide meaningful protection for intellectual property and copyright [1].
Reactions from Major Tech Companies
Google has confirmed that it will sign the new EU guidelines for Artificial Intelligence (AI). The voluntary code of conduct helps AI companies understand how to comply with the European AI Act [3]. xAI, Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company, will only sign the chapter on safety and security of the code of conduct. The other chapters are said to “seriously harm innovation” and the provisions on copyright “go too far,” according to the company on X [1].
Implementation and Binding Obligations
From 2 August 2025, binding obligations for providers of GPAI models will come into effect, including transparency requirements. These include providing technical documentation and information about training methods, training data, and model architecture. The EU AI Regulation (EU AI Act, Regulation (EU) 2024/1689) was adopted on 13 March 2024 and came into force on 1 August 2024 [4].
Ethical Considerations and Legal Uncertainty
Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, decided earlier this month not to sign the guidelines. Joel Kaplan, head of global affairs at Meta, called the code of conduct “a step in the wrong direction” on LinkedIn. According to him, the document will create legal uncertainty for AI developers and contain measures that go much further than the formal AI law requires. “This will seriously impede the growth of the European AI industry,” said Kaplan [5].
Impact on Creative Industries
A broad coalition of European writers, actors, musicians, film producers, journalists, translators, and visual artists sounded the alarm this week in a joint statement. The coalition accuses the European Commission of selling out the creative industries to the benefit of AI giants. The creative industries account for nearly 7% of European GDP and provide jobs for 17 million people. According to rights holders, the GPAI Code of Practice and the accompanying guidelines are more of a guide on how to circumvent the law [6].