Brussels waters down AI law following pressure from Trump and big business

BrusselsBrussels continues to reduce regulation in several fields, including the digital and artificial intelligence (AI) sectors. Just over a year after much of the new technology legislation came into effect in the European Union, the European Commission is already proposing to water it down. The proposal comes after pressure from US President Donald Trump for all allies to reduce regulatory requirements in the technology sector, a call also supported by major companies in the sector, some of them European. The proposal presented this Wednesday by the European Commission, which will now have to be negotiated and approved by the member states and the European Parliament, aims to grant exemptions in some areas of the regulation and reduce controls for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the sector, especially those that are growing and innovating. Along the same lines, Brussels promises to simplify the technical documentation and bureaucracy that these companies must submit, which it estimates will save them around €225 million per year.

Brussels is also advocating for postponing the entry into force of the AI regulations governing what is considered high-risk. This section was initially scheduled to come into effect next August, but the European Commission is now pushing for a year and a half delay. This part of the legislation regulates, for example, the generation of physical profiles of people through AI, which can be used to simulate videos of real people performing all kinds of fabricated actions; as well as screening tools for hiring staff or approving or rejecting loans that take into account criteria such as skin color or sexual orientation.

Another controversial reform being considered by the Commission is the reduction in the acceptance of privacy cookies. According to EU sources, they detected "a fatigue of cookies"," which is how the term is known in English, and the executive branch, headed by Ursula von der Leyen, proposes that from now on, all privacy cookies can be accepted with a single click.

The Commission states in a press release issued this Wednesday that all these regulations aim to provide new opportunities. Furthermore, Brussels denies the criticism from non-profit organizations specializing in the digital sector and asserts that, despite the deregulation of AI, it continues to promote "the highest standards in respect for fundamental rights, data protection, and security."

Trump's pressure

But this proposal comes months after pressure from the US president. Trump threatened to raise tariffs on countries or powers that, like the EU, he believes have digital taxes or regulations "designed to target or discriminate against US technology." Similarly, some large US technology companies, such as Meta, have strongly opposed EU regulations on AI.

Beyond Facebook's parent company, however, some fifty European companies have also called for the deregulation of AI. As many as 46 companies, including Airbus, Lufthansa, and Mercedes-Benz, asked European institutions to "simplify the rules" to boost the competitiveness of European industry, especially in the face of strong competition from the United States and China.