EU countries, lawmakers clinch provisional deal on watered-down AI rules

By Foo Yun Chee

BRUSSELS, May 7 (Reuters) – EU countries and European Parliament lawmakers on Thursday agreed to watered-down landmark artificial intelligence rules, including delaying their implementation, in a move critics say shows Europe caving in to Big Tech.

The tentative agreement, which needs formal approval from EU governments and the European Parliament in the coming months, followed nine hours of negotiations.

“Today’s agreement on the AI Act significantly supports our companies by reducing recurring administrative costs,” Marilena Raouna, Cyprus’s deputy minister for European affairs, said in a statement. Cyprus currently holds the rotating EU Council presidency.

The changes to the AI Act, which entered into force in August 2024 with key provisions phased in, are part of a broader European Commission push to simplify a slew of new digital rules.

The simplification drive came after businesses complained about overlapping regulations and red tape hampering their ability to compete with U.S. and Asian rivals.

DELAY

EU governments and lawmakers agreed to delay rules on high-risk AI systems such as those involving biometrics or related to critical infrastructure and law enforcement to December 2, 2027, from a previous deadline of August 2 this year.

They also agreed to exclude machinery from the AI Act as it is already subject to sectoral rules, following calls from businesses such as Germany’s Siemens and Dutch company ASML.

There was agreement too on a ban on AI practices that create unauthorised sexually explicit images, a move responding to such content generated by Elon Musk’s xAI ​chatbot Grok on ​X and sexually intimate deepfakes produced by Grok. The ban will apply from December 2.

“By the end of this year everyone, but especially women and girls will be safe from horrific nudifier apps being widely available on the EU market. Today we put a clear end to this kind of violence against people and children,” said Dutch lawmaker ​Kim van Sparrentak.

Lawmaker Michael McNamara, who spearheaded the negotiations for Parliament, said the EU-wide ban on nudifier apps will protect women and young people from the abuse of their image and dignity.

“I’m also happy that it will streamline the processes involved for European developers and deployers to get their products to the market while protecting consumers,” he told Reuters.

Mandatory watermarking of AI-generated output will apply from December 2.

The European Consumer Organisation lamented the weaker AI Act while tech lobbying group CCIA said lawmakers and governments should have gone further.

The AI rules, which were triggered by concerns about the impact of the technology on children, workers, companies and cybersecurity, are still considered the strictest in the world even after the changes.

(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee. Editing by Jacqueline Wong, Lincoln Feast and Mark Potter.)