AI, Large Language Models and Data Protection | 18/07/2024

The European Commission Publishes Its AI Continent Action Plan

On April 9 2025, the European Commission published the AI Continent Action Plan (the Action Plan), which outlines the EU's strategy to enhance innovation, competitiveness and regulatory compliance in artificial intelligence (AI). The Action Plan emphasises the importance of trustworthy and human-centric AI for economic growth and the preservation of fundamental rights. To achieve this, the Action Plan contains several legislative and policy initiatives, including Apply AI Strategy, Data Union Strategy, a proposal for a Cloud and AI Development Act, and AI in Science Strategy (see details on these proposals below). Calls for interests and public consultations concerning these proposals have been also published.

The Action Plan focuses on the following five key areas: computing infrastructures, access to high-quality data, development and adoption of AI, AI skills and talents, regulatory compliance and simplification.

1. Building large-scale data and computing infrastructure across Europe

The EU plans to facilitate the growth of its public AI infrastructure by strengthening the European network of supercomputers to support AI model development and innovation. The Action Plan also discusses establishing at least 13 AI factories and up to 5 AI Gigafactories across the EU. The factories will integrate supercomputers, data resources, and programming and training facilities to foster innovation, development of AI applications and collaboration and foster AI application in strategic sectors. AI Gigafactories are large scale facilities for the development and training of complex AI models, aiming for Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). Gigafactories will be federated with the network of AI Factories to facilitate seamless integration across the European AI landscape and stimulate the design and manufacturing of AI processors in Europe. Private investment in AI Gigafactories will be further stimulated through the InvestAI Initiative, which plans to mobilise €20 billion.

2. Increasing access to high-quality data

The AI plan also indicates a future Cloud and AI Development Act to boost investment in cloud and edge capacity, with the ultimate goal of tripling the EU's data centre capacity in the next five to seven years. The Act will also establish a common EU marketplace for cloud capacity and services to diversify cloud providers on the market and achieve highly secure EU-based cloud capacity.The European Commission will launch a Data Union Strategy to enhance data access, interoperability and availability across sectors to support AI development. As part of the strategy, Data Labs will be established within AI Factories and linked to the relevant European Data Spaces to gather high-quality data for AI research and development. The Data Union Strategy will also seek ways to simplify compliance with EU data rules, make it easier for businesses to share and use data for AI and ensure data confidentiality, security, and integrity.A call for evidence on the Data Union Strategy is expected to be launched in Q2 2025 and the Data Union Strategy is planned to be presented in Q3 2025.

3. Promoting AI adoption in strategic EU sectors

The European Commission will soon launch the Apply AI Strategy to accelerate AI adoption in key sectors such as advanced manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, automotive, energy and aerospace. A network of European Digital Innovation Hubs will support SMEs and public sector organisations to adopt AI and further advance technological development in strategic sectors. A related AI in Science Strategy will help to overcome identified barriers for scientists and encourage scientific collaboration.

4. Improving AI talent and skill

The EU will address AI talent shortages by enhancing education and training programs, including the launch of the AI Skills Academy, offering AI fellowship schemes, and supporting reskilling and AI adoption by small and medium enterprises and public administrations.

5. Regulatory compliance and simplification

The Action Plan aims for the Artificial Intelligence Act (the AI Act), which entered into force in August 2024 and will have full application by August 2027 to ensure a well-functioning single market for AI,. An AI Act Service Desk will be launched within the European AI Office in July 2025. The AI Act Service Desk will function as a central information hub, providing guidance and practical advice for compliance with the AI Act, particularly for smaller companies. The European Commission will also work with the AI Board on developing standards to facilitate compliance and reduce regulatory uncertainty.

To further shape the Action Plan, the European Commission has opened the following three public consultations:

Proposal for Cloud and AI Development Act: a consultation to gather stakeholders' views on issues related to the gap in EU computational capacity (including cloud and edge computing) and use of cloud services in the public sector. The consultation is open until June 4 2025 and further information is available here.

Apply AI Strategy: a consultation to identify stakeholder priorities, challenges to the uptake of AI, and the relevance of proposed policy approaches, including possible further measures to ensure the smooth and simple application of the AI Act. The consultation is open until June 4 2025 and further information is available here.

AI in Science Strategy: a consultation to gather the views of research and academic organisations, funders, and European research and innovation intensive companies on challenges and opportunities around AI in science and inform future strategy to overcome identified barriers. The consultation is open until June 4 2025 and further information is available here.

The press release is available here, and the Action Plan is available here.

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EU Sails Past Deadline To Tame AI Models Amid Vocal US Opposition

Now the European Commission has blown past a legal deadline of May 2 to deliver. 

Pressure has been building in recent weeks: In a letter to the Commission in late April, obtained by POLITICO, the U.S. Government said the draft rules had "flaws" and echoed many concerns aired in recent months by U.S. Tech companies and lobbyists. 

It's the latest pushback from the Trump administration against the EU's bid to become a super tech regulator, and follows attacks on the EU's social media law and digital competition rules.

The delay also exposes the reality that the rules are effectively a bandage measure after EU legislators failed to settle some of the thorniest topics when they negotiated the binding AI Act in early 2024. The rules are voluntary, leading to a complicated dance between the EU and industry to land on something meaningful that companies will actually implement.

POLITICO walks you through how a technical process turned into a messy geopolitical lobbying fight — and where it goes from here.

1. What is the EU trying to do?

Brussels is trying to put guardrails around the most advanced AI models such as ChatGPT and Gemini. Since September, a group of 13 academics tasked by the Commission has been working on a "code of practice" for models that can perform a "wide range of distinct tasks." 

That initiative was inspired by ChatGPT's rise to fame in late 2022. The instant popularity of a chatbot that could perform several tasks upon request, such as generating text, code and now also images and video, upended the bloc's drafting of the AI Act. 

Generative AI wasn't a thing when the Commission first presented its AI Act proposal in 2021, which left regulators scrambling. "People were saying: we will not go through five more years to wait for a regulation, so let's try to force generative AI into this Act," Audrey Herblin-Stoop, a top lobbyist at French OpenAI rival Mistral, recalled at a panel last week.  

Brussels is trying to put guardrails around the most advanced AI models such as ChatGPT and Gemini.Klaudia Radecka/NurPhoto via Getty Images

EU legislators decided to include specific obligations in the act on "general-purpose AI," a catch-all term that includes generative AI models like OpenAI's GPT or Google's Gemini.

The final text left it up to "codes of practice" to put meat on the bones. 

2. What is in the code that was due May 2?

The 13 experts, including heavy hitters like Yoshua Bengio, a French Canadian computer scientist nicknamed the "godfather of AI," and former European Parliament lawmaker Marietje Schaake, have worked on several thorny topics.

According to the latest draft, signatories would commit to disclosing relevant information about their models to authorities and customers, including the data being used to train them, and to drawing up a policy to comply with copyright rules.

Companies that develop a model that carries "systemic risks" also face a series of obligations to mitigate those risks.

The range of topics being discussed has drawn immense interest: Around 1,000 interested parties ranging from EU countries, lawmakers, leading AI companies, rightsholders and media to digital rights groups have weighed in on three different drafts. 

3. What are the objections?

U.S. Big Tech companies, including Meta and Google, and their lobby group representatives have repeatedly warned that the code goes beyond what was agreed on in the AI Act.

Just last week, Microsoft President Brad Smith said "the code can be helpful" but warned that "if too many things [are] competing with each other … it's not necessarily helpful."  

The companies also claim this is the reason the deadline was missed. 

"Months [were] lost to debates that went beyond the AI Act's agreed scope, including [a] proposal explicitly rejected by EU legislators," Boniface de Champris, senior policy manager at Big Tech Lobby CCIA, told POLITICO.

Digital rights campaigners, copyright holders and lawmakers haven't been impressed with Big Tech's criticism. 

"We have to ensure that the code of practice is not designed primarily to make AI model providers happy," Italian Social Democrat lawmaker Brando Benifei and the Parliament's AI Act lead negotiator said in an interview — a clear hint that the Parliament doesn't want a watered-down code. 

Benifei was among a group of lawmakers who resisted a decision in March to remove "large-scale discrimination" from a list of risks in the code that AI companies must manage. 

Brando Benifei was among a group of lawmakers who resisted a decision in March to remove "large-scale discrimination" from a list of risks in the code that AI companies must manage.Simona Granati - Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images

There have also been allegations of unfair lobbying tactics by U.S. Big Tech. Last week, two non-profit groups complained that "Big Tech enjoyed structural advantages." 

"A staggering amount of corporate lobbying is attempting to weaken not just the EU's AI laws but also DMA and DSA," said Ella Jakubowska, head of policy at European Digital Rights. 

Tech lobby CCIA resisted that criticism, saying AI model providers are "the primary subjects of the code" but make up only 5 percent of the 1,000 interest groups involved in the drafting.  

4. What has the U.S. Government said?

The U.S. Administration has been less public in its pushback against the EU's AI rules than in its attacks on the EU's social media law (the Digital Services Act) and the EU's digital competition rules (the Digital Markets Act). 

Behind the scenes, the positioning has been strong. The U.S. Mission to the EU filed feedback on the third draft of the code of practice in a letter to the European Commission echoing many of the concerns already aired by U.S. Tech executives or lobby groups.

"Several elements in the code are not found in the AI Act," the letter read.

The mission piggybacked on the European Commission's own pivot toward focusing on AI innovation, and said that the code must be improved "to better enable AI innovation." 

5. How will this play out?

Ultimately, the success of the effort hinges on whether leading AI companies such as U.S.-based Meta, Google, OpenAI, Anthropic and French Mistral sign on to it.  

That means the Commission needs to figure out how to publish something that meets its intentions while also being sufficiently palatable to Big Tech and the Trump administration.

EU Invests €200 Billion Towards Becoming A Global Leader In AI

Key Takeaways Becoming a Global Leader in More Than Regulation

While positioning itself as a global leader in artificial intelligence (AI) regulation with the EU AI Act, the EU has not historically been a global leader in innovative AI achievements. American and Chinese companies have dominated headlines and benchmark leaderboards in a constant race to have the most advanced AI models in the world. Meanwhile, while a recent McKinsey survey suggests that around 78% of organizations across the globe use AI in at least one business function, the EU itself estimates that only 13.5% of EU companies use AI.

In a move to better position the EU as a global leader in AI, the European Commission (the Commission) unveiled the "AI Continent Action Plan" on April 9, 2025. This ambitious plan will involve investing €200 billion towards increasing the EU's AI capabilities, aiming to transform Europe's robust talent pool and prowess in traditional industries into engines that will accelerate AI innovation in the EU.

A Five-Part Plan

The action plan focuses on five key pillars:

Building a large-scale AI data and computing infrastructure. The Commission plans to bolster Europe's AI and supercomputing infrastructure through setting up at least 13 "AI Factories" across Europe that will leverage the EU's existing supercomputing network. Additionally, the EU will establish "AI Gigafactories," equipped with approximately 100,000 state-of-the-art AI chips, to train and develop complex AI models. These facilities will require significant public and private investments, with the "InvestAI initiative" mobilizing €20 billion for five such Gigafactories. The Commission will also propose a "Cloud and AI Development Act" to stimulate private sector investment in cloud capacity and data centers. The proposed legislation will aim to triple the EU's data center capacity in the next five to seven years by addressing obstacles to finding suitable locations for data centers and obtaining access to sufficient energy resources. The Commission notes that, currently, the process of obtaining all the necessary permits and environmental authorizations to build a data center in the EU often takes longer than four years.

Increasing access to data. Access to large volumes of high-quality data is crucial for AI innovation. The action plan includes the creation of dedicated data labs within the AI Factories to curate large data volumes from various sources and ensure AI developers in the EU have access to high-quality data. The Commission intends to launch a comprehensive "Data Union Strategy" in 2025 to enhance data interoperability and availability across sectors. Additionally, the Data Union Strategy will involve investigating ways to simplify compliance obligations with EU data regulations so that companies can more easily share data for AI use.

Fostering AI adoption in strategic sectors. As noted above, despite the technology's potential, the EU estimates that only 13.5% of EU companies have adopted AI. To address the lack of adoption, the Commission will launch an "Apply AI Strategy" to develop tailored AI solutions and boost their adoption in strategic public and private sectors. The Apply AI Strategy will focus on leveraging "made in Europe" AI solutions to increase the productivity and competitiveness of key EU industry sectors while also improving the quality and efficiency of public services. The action plan calls for leveraging the existing European digital innovation hubs across the EU, transforming them into "Experience Centres for AI" with a renewed focus on these goals. The European digital innovation hubs will work with the AI Factories to help companies get access to computing and data resources and to support other AI initiatives, such as regulatory sandboxes.

Strengthening AI skills and talents. To meet the rising demand for AI talent, the Commission will facilitate the international recruitment of highly skilled AI experts through a variety of initiatives. Additionally, the action plan emphasizes educational and training programs for AI to prepare the next generation of AI specialists, from supporting development of AI literacy in primary and secondary education to upskilling and reskilling the existing EU workforce in the use of AI.

Fostering compliance with the EU AI Act. The Commission emphasizes that the EU adopted the AI Act "to create the conditions for a well-functioning single market for AI," and its success will depend on how "workable its rules are in practice." The Commission will launch an "AI Act Service Desk" to help stakeholders understand the AI Act, including by answering questions and providing free resources and advice on how to comply with the AI Act. Additionally, the Commission will leverage public consultations to help identify further measures to "facilitate compliance and possible simplification" of the AI Act. It was in this area where the final draft differed the most from the earlier leaked draft of the plan. An earlier draft spoke of "simplifying" compliance. This late change to the plan suggests there remains some tension within the European Commission on the AI Act's implementation and compliance obligations.

Next Steps

The Commission has opened two public consultations from April 9 to June 4, 2025, to gather stakeholder views on the proposed Cloud and AI Development Act and Apply AI Strategy, with a third public consultation on the Data Union Strategy planned for May. Additionally, the Commission has indicated that it plans to organize dialogues with industry representatives and the public sector to help shape the Apply AI Strategy and to identify untapped potential in adopting AI technologies and opportunities for scaling up within various sectors.

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