Brussels proposes to grant another year of permission for generative artificial intelligence (AI) systems such as ChatGPT. The European standard, the world leader in regulating this technology, partially enters into force. In August next year, provisions will come into effect that, for example, inform a consumer that he or she is seeing an image or product generated by artificial intelligence. It was also planned that penalties for non-compliance with the rule would begin to apply on that date. However, the European Commission proposes to give an additional 12 months to companies that develop and deploy this technology, according to a draft proposal that the European executive plans to approve on Wednesday and to which EL PAÍS newspaper has had access.
The pressures that reached Brussels were multiple. The United States has practiced it, as well as technology companies themselves. They were joined, a month and a half ago, by Mario Draghi, the respected former president of the European Central Bank and author of the report analyzing how the EU must restore the competitiveness of its economy, which serves as a guide as an agenda in this second term of Ursula von der Leyen. In the background, there is precisely the technological race that Europe has been losing for decades to the United States and China, in which artificial intelligence is the last stage and in which the Old Continent is also losing ground.
The Commission’s proposal also forms part of its simplification programme. This Wednesday, Brussels presents a new chapter of this programme, Chapter 7, and there will be several proposals on digital regulations: changes in the regulation of artificial intelligence are also expected to be added to those of digital standards affecting data regulation, among them the basic regulation that came into force in 2018, known by its English acronym, GDPR. Officials and political leaders in the community’s executive body explain that it is not about eliminating regulatory restrictions, but rather about reducing administrative burdens and obligations for companies that provide little added value and hinder their competitiveness. They say so, especially with the many regulations published in the previous Legislative Council (2019-2024), but the changes go further than that.
Here Brussels now claims, just two years after approving the pioneering regulation (achieved under the Spanish Presidency of the EU Council), that it is necessary to give “sufficient time to providers of generative AI systems subject to labeling obligations (…) to adapt their practices within a reasonable period without disturbing the market,” can be read in the draft. For this reason, the European Executive considers it “appropriate” to offer a “one-year grace period” to those suppliers who have already marketed their systems before 2 August 2026, the date on which the entire Regulation enters into force.
The one-year delay specifically refers to “transparency obligations” set out in the European regulation. It states that “providers of artificial intelligence systems, including general-purpose AI systems, that generate artificial audio, image, video or text content” must ensure through labeling or classification “that it is detectable that (such content) has been artificially generated or manipulated.”
For the same need to give “sufficient time” to comply with this transparency rule, he proposes that “although the rules will remain applicable and the monitoring authorities will be able to implement them,” as planned, from August 2 next year, these companies will also have a year of grace to adapt, because “the rules on administrative fines stipulated (…) in relation to violations” will only apply, as Brussels says, “from August 2, 2027.”
The proposal, which will be presented on Wednesday as part of the “Digital Package” by the Vice-Chair of the Technology Sovereignty Committee, Hina Virkkonen, comes after weeks of rumors about whether Brussels would give in to strong pressure to repeal its landmark AI law, which it agreed to in December 2023 after months of intense negotiations. In recent days, community sources have insisted that the European executive has “no intention” of “rolling back” AI or GDPR legislation.
In July, more than fifty representatives of European companies, including Siemens and Mistral, in an open letter to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called for “the need to postpone the implementation of the AI law” to allow “reasonable implementation” by companies and “further simplification of the rules.”
“This postponement, coupled with a commitment to prioritize regulatory quality over speed, would send a clear signal to innovators and investors around the world that Europe is serious about the simplification and competitiveness agenda,” the directors noted.
However, the greatest pressure has come from the other side of the Atlantic, where Donald Trump’s government has not hesitated to express its dissatisfaction with any European attempt to regulate big technology companies – most of which are of American origin – and has even gone so far as to accuse the EU of having “ideological biases” in its AI legislation, which it also explicitly describes as “excessive”.
About The Author
