EU lawmakers on Thursday closed a deal to loosen laws under the EU’s Artificial Intelligence Act.
Details of the changes include postponing restrictions on high-risk uses of AI until December 2027 and exempting industrial applications of AI from legal scrutiny.
AI tools designed to assist users will also not be considered under high-risk obligations, provided their malfunction doesn’t cause health and safety risks.
Companies will also be granted a three-month grace period on meeting new requirements to watermark AI-generated content.
Other stipulations include banning AI systems that create sexual abuse material, including those relating to children or non-consensual depictions of people engaged in sexual acts.
“With this agreement, we show that politics can move just as quickly as technology. We now make the AI rules more workable in practice, remove overlaps and pause the high-risk requirements,” Arba Kokalari of the EU’s Internal Market and Consumer Protection committee, said in a statement.
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen posted on X that the loosening of restrictions “provides a simple, innovation-friendly environment” for AI in Europe.
“At the same time, we are strengthening protections for our citizens. For safe and simple AI governance in Europe,” she said.
The rollback comes as countries vie to move ahead in the AI race, with the EU following the lead of the Trump administration’s ongoing pushback against restrictions on the technology.
“In order for Europe to become an AI continent, we need to promote innovation, support startups and scaleups and make it easier to build AI in Europe,” Kokalari said.
The deal is still awaiting formal approval from EU lawmakers before it can become law, though it is expected to be adopted before August.
Enacted in 2024, the EU’s AI Act was the first large legal framework on AI and was part of a wider package of measures designed to support safe, sustainable uptake of the tech.
