Andreas Cleve has lots on his mind as chief executive of Danish healthcare start-up Corti — wooing new investors, convincing clinicians to use his company’s “AI co-pilot” and keeping up with the latest breakthroughs in generative artificial intelligence. But he fears that efforts like these will be made harder by a new concern: the EU’s new Artificial Intelligence Act, a first-of-its-kind law aimed at ensuring ethical use of the technology. Many tech start-ups are concerned that the well-intentioned legislation might end up smothering the emerging industry in red tape. The costs of compliance — which European officials admit could run into six-figure sums for a company with 50 employees — amount to an extra “tax” on the bloc’s small enterprises, Cleve says. “I worry about legislation that becomes hard to bear for a small company that can’t afford it,” he says. “It’s a daunting task to raise cash and now you’ve had this tax imposed. You also need to spend time to understand it.” Cleve still welcomes regulation of AI, because he thinks that safeguards around products that may cause harm is very important. “The AI Act is a good idea but I worry that it will make it very hard for deep tech entrepreneurs to find success in Europe.” The act, which formally comes into force in August and will be implemented in stages over the next two years, is the first piece of legislation of its kind, emerging from the EU’s desire to become the “global hub for trustworthy AI”.
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