EU lawmakers strike provisional deal to soften AI Act
European Union member states and the European Parliament agreed early Thursday to push back the toughest deadlines under the bloc’s AI Act, giving enterprises more time to prepare for high-risk compliance. Under the provisional deal between negotiators for the European Parliament and European Council, high-risk AI systems will face new deadlines of Dec. 2, 2027 for stand-alone systems and Aug. 2, 2028 for AI used in products covered by EU sectoral safety rules, a European Parliament statement said. The original deadline was Aug. 2, 2026. The deal still needs formal adoption by both Parliament and Council before it can enter into law. The co-legislators intend to complete that step before Aug. 2. Until they do, the original deadline applies as drafted. “Today’s agreement on the AI Act significantly supports our companies by reducing recurring administrative costs,” Marilena Raouna, Cyprus’s deputy minister for European affairs, said in a statement from the Council, which is composed of