Jack Ma, the Co-founder of Alibaba, warns countries that tighten their laws to restrict companies’ ability to innovate. According to Jack Ma, such countries may soon be headed to doom. This was his message at the Viva Tech Conference held in Paris, France.
‘‘When faced with problems, Chinese entrepreneurs start to solve the problems, then think about rules and laws,” he said.
‘‘I worry about Europe,” Jack Ma added. “I worry about the worries of Europe. Africa does not worry. Asia does not worry. What are they worried about?
Jack Ma sees a problem with the way Europe is going about regulating its tech startup ecosystem. For that, he said he is worried because Europe is worried about technology and is tightening regulations that restrict companies’ ability to innovate. The European Union for instance last year introduced stringent new data laws targeted at ensuring consumers’ right to privacy. The EU executive, meanwhile, recently published guidelines aimed at maintaining ethics in artificial intelligence (AI).
“If you think the technology revolution is a problem, I’m sorry to say a problem just started. If you think it’s an opportunity, the opportunity just started. The only thing is your mentality. If the mentality is now a worry, you’ll worry all the time,” said Jack Ma told attendees at the Viva Technology conference in Paris Thursday
“Everything they do is full with rules and laws. And everything they think about, they start to worry. When they worry, they make rules and laws.”
Jack Ma already knows that his home country China which is home to a group of three large technology firms often referred to as the BAT — Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent understands this game and is playing it better. China has seen swelling venture capital investment in the tech sector, with Ant Financial raising a record $14 billion funding round from investors in 2018 alone.
This Is Perhaps Why Europe Is Not Doing So Well
Jack Ma hinted that the reason Europe is not doing so well in tech compared to that of the U.S. and China is because of its large regulations.
Jack Ma: Don’t Worry About Regulating AI: It Could Be Used To Catch Thieves
Jack Ma also said there was no need for Europe or other continents to worry about AI.
He said that his firm uses artificial intelligence to detect and trap a lot of criminals.
For example, he referred to his company’s payments platform Alipay. It uses machine learning to discover “cheating” bad actors.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh, a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organisations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world.