How AI regulation could shake out in 2025

Published

2 months ago

January 6, 2025

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U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and Elon Musk watch the launch of the sixth test flight of the SpaceX Starship rocket in Brownsville, Texas, on Nov. 19, 2024.

Brandon Bell | Via Reuters

The U.S. political landscape is set to undergo some shifts in 2025 — and those changes will have some major implications for the regulation of artificial intelligence.

President-elect Donald Trump will be inaugurated on Jan. 20. Joining him in the White House will be a raft of top advisors from the world of business — including Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy — who are expected to influence policy thinking around nascent technologies such as AI and cryptocurrencies.

Across the Atlantic, a tale of two jurisdictions has emerged, with the U.K. and European Union diverging in regulatory thinking. While the EU has taken more of a heavy hand with the Silicon Valley giants behind the most powerful AI systems, Britain has adopted a more light-touch approach.

In 2025, the state of AI regulation globally could be in for a major overhaul. CNBC takes a look at some of the key developments to watch — from the evolution of the EU’s landmark AI Act to what a Trump administration could do for the U.S.

Musk’s U.S. policy influence

Elon Musk walks on Capitol Hill on the day of a meeting with Senate Republican Leader-elect John Thune (R-SD), in Washington, U.S. December 5, 2024.

Benoit Tessier | Reuters

Although it’s not an issue that featured very heavily during Trump’s election campaign, artificial intelligence is expected to be one of the key sectors set to benefit from the next U.S. administration.

For one, Trump appointed Musk, CEO of electric car manufacturer Tesla, to co-lead his “Department of Government Efficiency” alongside Ramaswamy, an American biotech entrepreneur who dropped out of the 2024 presidential election race to back Trump.

Matt Calkins, CEO of Appian, told CNBC Trump’s close relationship with Musk could put the U.S. in a good position when it comes to AI, citing the billionaire’s experience as a co-founder of OpenAI and CEO of xAI, his own AI lab, as positive indicators.

“We’ve finally got one person in the U.S. administration who truly knows about AI and has an opinion about it,” Calkins said in an interview last month. Musk was one of Trump’s most prominent endorsers in the business community, even appearing at some of his campaign rallies.

There is currently no confirmation on what Trump has planned in terms of possible presidential directives or executive orders. But Calkins thinks it’s likely Musk will look to suggest guardrails to ensure AI development doesn’t endanger civilization — a risk he’s warned about multiple times in the past.

“He has an unquestioned reluctance to allow AI to cause catastrophic human outcomes – he’s definitely worried about that, he was talking about it long before he had a policy position,” Calkins told CNBC.

Currently, there is no comprehensive federal AI legislation in the U.S. Rather, there’s been a patchwork of regulatory frameworks at the state and local level, with numerous AI bills introduced across 45 states plus Washington D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The EU AI Act

The European Union is so far the only jurisdiction globally to drive forward comprehensive rules for artificial intelligence with its AI Act.

Jaque Silva | Nurphoto | Getty Images

The European Union has so far been the only jurisdiction globally to push forward with comprehensive statutory rules for the AI industry. Earlier this year, the bloc’s AI Act — a first-of-its-kind AI regulatory framework — officially entered into force.

The law isn’t yet fully in force yet, but it’s already causing tension among large U.S. tech companies, who are concerned that some aspects of the regulation are too strict and may quash innovation.

In December, the EU AI Office, a newly created body overseeing models under the AI Act, published a second-draft code of practice for general-purpose AI (GPAI) models, which refers to systems like OpenAI’s GPT family of large language models, or LLMs.

The second draft included exemptions for providers of certain open-source AI models. Such models are typically available to the public to allow developers to build their own custom versions. It also includes a requirement for developers of “systemic” GPAI models to undergo rigorous risk assessments.

The Computer & Communications Industry Association — whose members include Amazon, Google and Meta — warned it “contains measures going far beyond the Act’s agreed scope, such as far-reaching copyright measures.”

The AI Office wasn’t immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC.

It’s worth noting the EU AI Act is far from reaching full implementation.

As Shelley McKinley, chief legal officer of popular code repository platform GitHub, told CNBC in November, “the next phase of the work has started, which may mean there’s more ahead of us than there is behind us at this point.”

For example, in February, the first provisions of the Act will become enforceable. These provisions cover “high-risk” AI applications such as remote biometric identification, loan decisioning and educational scoring. A third draft of the code on GPAI models is slated for publication that same month.

European tech leaders are concerned about the risk that punitive EU measures on U.S. tech firms could provoke a reaction from Trump, which might in turn cause the bloc to soften its approach.

Take antitrust regulation, for example. The EU’s been an active player taking action to curb U.S. tech giants’ dominance — but that’s something that could result in a negative response from Trump, according to Swiss VPN firm Proton’s CEO Andy Yen.

“[Trump’s] view is he probably wants to regulate his tech companies himself,” Yen told CNBC in a November interview at the Web Summit tech conference in Lisbon, Portugal. “He doesn’t want Europe to get involved.”

UK copyright review

Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer gives a media interview while attending the 79th United Nations General Assembly at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, U.S. September 25, 2024.

Leon Neal | Via Reuters

One country to watch for is the U.K. Previously, Britain has shied away from introducing statutory obligations for AI model makers due to the fear that new legislation could be too restrictive.

However, Keir Starmer’s government has said it plans to draw up legislation for AI, although details remain thin for now. The general expectation is that the U.K. will take a more principles-based approach to AI regulation, as opposed to the EU’s risk-based framework.

Last month, the government dropped its first major indicator for where regulation is moving, announcing a consultation on measures to regulate the use of copyrighted content to train AI models. Copyright is a big issue for generative AI and LLMs, in particular.

Most LLMs use public data from the open web to train their AI models. But that often includes examples of artwork and other copyrighted material. Artists and publishers like the New York Times allege that these systems are unfairly scraping their valuable content without consent to generate original output.

To address this issue, the U.K. government is considering making an exception to copyright law for AI model training, while still allowing rights holders to opt out of having their works used for training purposes.

Appian’s Calkins said that the U.K. could end up being a “global leader” on the issue of copyright infringement by AI models, adding that the country isn’t “subject to the same overwhelming lobbying blitz from domestic AI leaders that the U.S. is.”

U.S.-China relations a possible point of tension

U.S. President Donald Trump, right, and Xi Jinping, China’s president, walk past members of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) during a welcome ceremony outside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, on Thursday, Nov. 9, 2017.

Qilai Shen | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Lastly, as world governments seek to regulate fast-growing AI systems, there’s a risk geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and China may escalate under Trump.

In his first term as president, Trump enforced a number of hawkish policy measures on China, including a decision to add Huawei to a trade blacklist restricting it from doing business with American tech suppliers. He also launched a bid to ban TikTok,which is owned by Chinese firm ByteDance, in the U.S. — although he’s since softened his position on TikTok.

China is racing to beat the U.S. for dominance in AI. At the same time, the U.S. has taken measures to restrict China’s access to key technologies, mainly chips like those designed by Nvidia, which are required to train more advanced AI models. China has responded by attempting to build its own homegrown chip industry.

Technologists worry that a geopolitical fracturing between the U.S. and China on artificial intelligence could result in other risks, such as the potential for one of the two to develop a form of AI smarter than humans.

Max Tegmark, founder of the nonprofit Future of Life Institute, believes the U.S. and China could in future create a form of AI that can improve itself and design new systems without human supervision, potentially forcing both countries’ governments to individually come up with rules around AI safety.

“My optimistic path forward is the U.S. and China unilaterally impose national safety standards to prevent their own companies from doing harm and building uncontrollable AGI, not to appease the rivals superpowers, but just to protect themselves,” Tegmark told CNBC in a November interview.

Governments are already trying to work together to figure out how to create regulations and frameworks around AI. In 2023, the U.K. hosted a global AI safety summit, which the U.S. and China administrations both attended, to discuss potential guardrails around the technology.

– CNBC’s Arjun Kharpal contributed to this report

Technology

Binance secures ‘largest investment ever’ in crypto as Abu Dhabi’s MGX pledges $2 billion

Published

8 hours ago

March 13, 2025

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Binance secures ‘largest investment ever’ in crypto as Abu Dhabi’s MGX pledges billion

The Binance logo is displayed on a screen in San Anselmo, California, June 6, 2023.

Justin Sullivan | Getty Images

Emirati state-owned investment firm MGX announced a $2 billion investment into Binance, in what marks the cryptocurrency exchange’s first institutional investment and the “single largest investment” ever paird in crypto.

In a joint press release, the firms said the minority stake would be paid for in stablecoins, making it the “largest investment ever” paid in cryptocurrency. Stablecoins are a type of digital asset designed to hold a constant value, typically with a peg to a fiat currency.

Abu Dhabi launched the MGX investment firm last year with a focus on AI technology. In September, MGX partnered with the likes of BlackRock and Microsoft to launch a more than $30 billion AI fund, but it had yet to invest in the cryptocurrency industry and blockchain sectors.

“MGX’s investment in Binance reflects our commitment to advancing blockchain’s transformative potential for digital finance,” Ahmed Yahia, managing director and CEO at MGX, said in a statement.

The press release added that “by partnering with the leading industry player, MGX aims to enable innovation at the intersection of AI, blockchain technology and finance.”

Binance and MGX did not immediately comment on the size of the stake or what stablecoin would be used for the payment. Binance has not responded to an inquiry on whether the deal had been completed.

As part of the UAE’s broader ambitions to become a global technology leader, it has been growing into a regional crypto hub.

Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, has grown its Middle East footprint as it faced regulatory hurdles and enforcement measures in other jurisdictions in recent years,

According to the press release, Binance employs approximately 1,000 of its roughly 5,000 global workforce in the UAE. It adds that it now boasts over 260 million registered users and has surpassed $100 trillion in cumulative trading volume.

Binance CEO Richard Teng is scheduled to take part in a panel session at CNBC’s CONVERGE LIVE in Singapore at 2:40 p.m. local time (2:40 a.m. ET) on Thursday.

Technology

Meta goes to arbitrator to prevent whistleblower from promoting tell-all book

Published

10 hours ago

March 12, 2025

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Meta goes to arbitrator to prevent whistleblower from promoting tell-all book

This photo illustration created Jan. 7, 2025, shows an image of Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, and an image of the Meta logo.

Drew Angerer | Afp | Getty Images

Meta is seeking to stop the promotion of a new memoir by a former staffer that paints the social media company in an unflattering light, including allegations of sexual harassment by the company’s policy chief.

An emergency arbitrator ruled Thursday that Sarah Wynn-Williams is prohibited from promoting “Careless People,” her book that was released Tuesday by Flatiron Books, an imprint of publisher Macmillan Books.

The memoir chronicles Wynn-Williams’ tenure at Facebook from 2011 through 2017. During that time, she became a high-level employee who interacted with CEO Mark Zuckerberg, then-COO Sheryl Sandberg and Joel Kaplan, the company’s current policy chief. In the book, Wynn-Williams alleges that Kaplan made a number of inappropriate comments to her, which she then reported to the company as sexual harassment.

“This is a mix of out-of-date and previously reported claims about the company and false accusations about our executives,” a Meta spokesperson previously said about both her book and complaint.

Wynn-Williams also details in her book the company’s various attempts to enter the Chinese market, including building tools that would censor content to appease the Chinese Communist Party. Wynn-Williams addressed some of these China-specific claims in a whistleblower complaint that she filed in April with the Securities and Exchange Commission, NBC News reported.

The emergency arbitrator ruled in favor of Meta after watching a podcast appearance of Wynn-Williams in which she discussed her memoir and her allegations that Meta was attempting to “shut this book down.”

“The Emergency Arbitrator finds that, after reviewing the briefs and hearing oral argument, (Meta) has established a likelihood of success on the merits of its contractual non-disparagement claim against Respondent Wynn-Williams, and that immediate and irreparable loss will result in the absence of emergency relief,” the filing said.

Additionally, the arbitrator ruled that so much as Wynn-Williams can control, she is prohibited from further publishing or distributing the book and from further disparaging Meta and its officers or repeating previous disparaging remarks. The arbitrator also ruled that Wynn-Williams is to retract her previous disparaging remarks.

The company has previously dismissed Wynn-Williams’ claims as “out-of-date” and said that she was fired for “poor performance and toxic behavior.”

Meta spokesperson Andy Stone shared the emergency arbitrator’s ruling in a post on Threads, saying that it “affirms that Sarah Wynn Williams’ false and defamatory book should never have been published.”

“This urgent legal action was made necessary by Williams, who more than eight years after being terminated by the company, deliberately concealed the existence of her book project and avoided the industry’s standard fact-checking process in order to rush it to shelves after waiting for eight years,” Stone said.

Meta alleged that Wynn-Williams violated the non-disparagement terms of her September 2017 severance agreement, resulting in the company filing an emergency motion on Friday. The emergency arbitrator then conducted a telephone hearing involving legal representatives of Meta and Macmillan Books, but not Wynn-Williams who did not appear though she was given notice, the filing said.

Wynn-Williams, Flatiron Books and Macmillan Books did not respond to requests for comment.

WATCH: What’s driving Meta’s stock run

Technology

Intel appoints Lip-Bu Tan as new CEO, stock jumps 12%

Published

13 hours ago

March 12, 2025

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Intel appoints Lip-Bu Tan as new CEO, stock jumps 12%

Lip-Bu Tan appointed chief executive officer of Intel Corporation

Courtesy: Intel

Intel said on Wednesday that it had appointed Lip-Bu Tan as its new CEO, as the chipmaker attempts to recover from a tumultuous four-year run under Pat Gelsinger.

Tan was previously CEO of Cadence Design Systems, which makes software used by all the major chip designers, including Intel. He was an Intel board member but departed last year, citing other commitments.

Tan replaces interim co-CEOs David Zinsner and MJ Holthaus, who took over in December when former Intel CEO Patrick Gelsinger was ousted. Tan is also rejoining Intel’s board.

The appointment closes a chaotic chapter in Intel’s history, as investors pressured the semiconductor company to cut costs and spin off businesses due to declining sales and an inability to crack the booming artificial intelligence market.

Intel shares rose over 12% in extended trading on Wednesday.

Tan becomes the fourth permanent CEO at Intel in seven years. Following Brian Krzanich’s resignation in 2018, after the revelations of an inappropriate relationship with an employee, Bob Swan took the helm in Jan. 2019. He departed two years later after Intel suffered numerous blows from competitors and chip delays. Swan was succeeded by Gelsinger in 2021.

Gelsinger took over with a bold plan to transform Intel’s business to manufacture chips for other companies in addition to its own, becoming a foundry. But Intel’s overall products revenue continued to decline, and investors fretted over the significant capital expenditures needed for such massive chip production, including constructing a $20 billion dollar factory complex in Ohio.

Last fall, after a disappointing earnings report, Intel appeared to be for sale, and reportedly drew interest from rival companies including Qualcomm. Analysts assessed the possibility of Intel spinning off its foundry division or selling its products division — including server and PC chips — to a rival.

In AI, Intel has gotten trounced by Nvidia, whose graphics processing units (GPUs) have become the chip of choice for developers over the past few years.

In January, Intel issued a weak forecast even as it beat on earnings and revenue. The company pointed to seasonality, economic conditions and competition, and said clients are digesting inventory. The prospect of tariffs was adding to the uncertainty, Zinsner said.

Intel said that Zinsner will return to his previous role of CFO. Holthaus will remain in charge of Intel Products.

Intel was removed from the Dow Jones Industrial Average in November and was replaced by Nvidia, reflecting the dramatic change of fortune in the semiconductor industry. Intel shares lost 60% of their value last year, while Nvidia’s stock price soared 171%. At Wednesday’s close, Intel’s market cap was $89.5 billion, less than one-thirtieth of Nvidia’s valuation.

WATCH: Intel appoints Lip-Bu Tan as CEO