EU is “frontline” in the regulation of Artificial Intelligence

“The EU is definitely playing a role in this area and I think we can say with confidence that we are on the frontline“, said the spokesman of the community executive for the area of technological sovereignty, Thomas Regnier.

“ Obviously, we have implemented all the necessary measures to ensure security and protection safeguards for our citizens with regard to the development and implementation of artificial intelligence in the EU and that is what we are doing,” added the person responsible at the daily press conference of the institution in Brussels.

Thomas Regnier recalled that the European law of the AI is “fully in force” and “to be implemented” by the European authorities.

The European Artificial Intelligence Regulation, which entered into force phaseally from 1 August 2024, is the world's first comprehensive legal framework to regulate AI, establishing rules based on the level of risk of different systems and safeguards to protect health, safety and fundamental rights.

Brussels' position comes at a time of debate on the speed of development of the most advanced AI models, after the American Anthropic defended the need for greater caution in view of the rapid development of this technology.

Asked about a possible contact of the US company with the European Commission in the context of this debate, the spokesman said he was unaware: “I am not aware of this and, in any case, we would not participate in this type of bilateral discussions.”.

He stressed, however, that the European institutions have access to most of the latest AI models, which are being tested by the European Cybersecurity Agency.

“In the EU, compliance [of the rules] is not an option. It is an obligation”, he said.

Thomas Regnier reiterated at the same time that Brussels is in favour of innovation and the provision of AI services in Europe, provided that they fully respect European legislation.

At the moment, there is a broad discussion on the need to find a balance between the development of increasingly powerful AI systems, technological innovation and the protection of citizens from security risks.

The debate gained new momentum after Anthropic's executive president, Dario Amodei, publicly advocated a slowdown in the pace of AI development.

Anthropic has also been under pressure due to recent disclosures about the use of models in cybersecurity operations and other potentially abusive activities.

At European level, the European Union Cybersecurity Agency is testing some of the latest AI models, including Anthropic's Mythos 5 and OpenAI's GPT-6-Astra, to assess their capabilities and potential impacts on cybersecurity.