The European Union said Friday it will stick to a timeline for implementing its groundbreaking AI laws in response to a collaborative effort by more than 100 high-tech companies to delay AI rules in the bloc.
Tech companies around the world, including giants such as Alphabet, Meta, Mistral AI and ASML, are urging the European Commission to slow down the deployment of AI laws, saying it will undermine the chances of competing in the rapidly evolving AI arena.
“I’ve certainly seen a lot of reports, lots of letters and lots of things being said about AI law. Let’s be as clear as possible. There is no clock. There is no period of bounty. There is no pause.
The AI Act, a risk-based regulation for the application of artificial intelligence, completely prohibits a small number of “unacceptable risk” use cases, such as cognitive behavioral manipulation and social scoring. It also defines a set of “high-risk” uses, such as biometric authentication and facial recognition, AI used in domains such as education and employment. App developers must register their systems and fulfill their risk and quality control obligations to gain access to the EU market.
Another category of AI apps, such as chatbots, is considered “limited risk” and is subject to a lighter transparency obligation.
The EU began rolling out AI laws last year, with full regulations in place by mid-2026.
