According to AIbase, the European Union clearly stated on Friday that it will stick to the established timetable for its landmark artificial intelligence legislation, rejecting a joint lobbying effort by more than 100 global technology companies, including Alphabet, Meta, Mistral AI, and ASML, to delay the AI Act. These tech giants had previously claimed that delaying implementation would harm Europe's competitiveness in the rapidly evolving artificial intelligence field.
EU Commission spokesperson Thomas Rennie responded firmly, stating, "I have indeed seen many reports, letters, and statements about the AI Act. Let me make it as clear as possible: this legislation is not stalled, there is no grace period, and there is no suspension."
The AI Act is a risk-based regulatory framework that clearly categorizes artificial intelligence applications. It completely bans a small number of "unacceptable risk" use cases, such as cognitive behavioral manipulation or social scoring. The act also defines a series of "high-risk" uses, including biometric and facial recognition, as well as artificial intelligence applications used in education and employment sectors. For "high-risk" applications, developers must register their systems and fulfill risk and quality management obligations to enter the EU market. For artificial intelligence applications considered to have "limited risk," such as chatbots, they have fewer transparency obligations.
The EU has been implementing the AI Act in phases since last year, and its comprehensive rules will come into full effect in mid-2026.