EU sticks with timeline for AI rules

By Foo Yun Chee

BRUSSELS, July 4 (Reuters) - The European Union's landmark rules on artificial intelligence will be rolled out according to the legal timeline in the legislation, the European Commission said on Friday, dismissing calls from some companies and countries for a pause.

Google owner Alphabet GOOGL.O, Facebook owner Meta META.O and other U.S. companies as well as European businesses such as Mistral and ASML ASML.AS have in recent days urged the Commission to delay the AI Act by years.

"I've seen, indeed, a lot of reporting, a lot of letters and a lot of things being said on the AI Act. Let me be as clear as possible, there is no stop the clock. There is no grace period. There is no pause," Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier told a press conference.

"We have legal deadlines established in a legal text. The provisions kicked in February, general purpose AI model obligations will begin in August, and next year, we have the obligations for high risk models that will kick in in August 2026," he said.

The Commission plans to propose steps to simplify its digital rules towards the end of the year, such as cutting back on reporting obligations for small companies.

Some companies have voiced concerns about the compliance costs and tough requirements of the AI rules, which aim to set guardrails on a technology key to multiple sectors of the economy and currently led by the United States and China.