Microsoft Threatened with Billions of Dollars in Fines Due to Bing AI

Morrissey Technology – Microsoft faces a fine of up to 1% of its annual revenue if it does not immediately respond to the European Union’s request by May 27 2024. The threat stems from requests made under the European Union’s Digital Services Act regarding the company’s Bing search engine and related generative artificial intelligence (AI) services.

In a post onMicrosoft faces a fine of up to 1% of its annual revenue if it does not immediately respond to the European Union’s request by May 27 2024. The threat stems from requests made under the European Union’s Digital Services Act regarding the company’s Bing search engine and related generative artificial intelligence (AI) services.

The European Union explained that the initial request sent on May 14 related to specific risks stemming from Bing’s generative AI features, particularly Copilot in Bing and image creation by Designer. Microsoft has until May 27, 2024 to provide the requested information to the European Union.

This warning was accompanied by a notice that the EU FOR4D may impose fines of up to 1% of the provider’s total annual revenue, as well as periodic fines of up to 5% of the provider’s average daily revenue if the EU’s requests are not met before the deadline. While a 1% revenue fine may not sound like a major blow, in Microsoft’s case, it could amount to more than USD 2 billion.

Self-reported revenue for 2023 is USD 211 billion, and if current market trends remain stable, it is conceivable that Microsoft could surpass that figure in 2024. With these figures, if fined, it would be around USD 2.1 billion.

However, Microsoft has not been found guilty of violating European Union law, at least not specifically in relation to this notification. Rather, this appears to be more of a polite notice to the public that Microsoft has effectively been asked to provide further details, which have consequences if ignored.