Will EU delay enforcing AI Act?

With less than a month to go before parts of the European Union’s Al Act come into force, companies are calling for a pause in the provisions and getting support from some politicians.

- SUPANTHA MUKHERJEE

Groups representing big US tech companies such as Google owner Alphabet and Facebook owner Meta, and European companies such as Mistral and ASML have urged the European Commission to delay the AI Act by years.

Under the landmark act that was passed a year earlier after intense debate between EU countries, its provisions would come into effect in a staggered manner over several years.

Some important provisions, including rules for general purpose AI (GPAI) models, are due to apply on Aug 2.

GPAI, which includes foundation models like those made by Google, Mistral and OpenAI, will be subject to transparency requirements such as drawing up technical documentation, complying with EU copyright law and providing detailed summaries about the content used for algorithm training.