The EU wants to relax its AI law to compete with the US.

BrusselsThe law to regulate artificial intelligence (AI) of the European Union is the first one approved in the world and was supposed to be a pioneer in the sector, but it has not yet entered into force, and Brussels is already considering making it more flexible. The European Commission's objective is to boost the industry of this technology and avoid falling too far behind in the AI race led by powers such as the United States and China. However, the legal modification has already received criticism from various entities and MEPs because they believe it does not oblige companies to evaluate or mitigate the risks that generative artificial intelligence may pose to citizens' fundamental rights, as required by the text initially agreed upon by the EU.

The European Commissioner for Technological Sovereignty, Henna Virkkunen, stated in a press conference that she is "aware of the criticism" that Brussels' proposal has received. However, the EU leader stressed that AI is one of the "critical" sectors that the EU wants to strengthen in order to stop depending on American and Chinese companies. In any case, she noted that the "legislative text is not final" and opened the door to discussing it again. "We must find a balance," the commissioner said.

To achieve this, Virkkunen asserted that "we must reduce the paperwork and bureaucracy" that companies wishing to work with this technology in the EU must undertake, especially with regard to small and medium-sized companies with fewer resources. However, Brussels is not the only sector in which it intends to make regulations more flexible. It has also presented similar legislative amendments for the automotive industry and, among others, the agri-food industry.

On the other hand, the European Commission has also formally presented the plan to mobilize 200 billion euros in public-private funds to invest in AI in the European bloc, although it has not specified exactly where all this money will come from and Virkkunen has limited himself to saying that they are already working with the European Bank of In. In addition, Brussels will create a 20 billion euro fund to develop AI gigafactories like the one in Barcelona.