The Member States’ ambassadors to the European Union approved, on Friday 1 December, the revised negotiating mandate of the Spanish Presidency of the EU Council on artificial intelligence (‘AI Act’), with a view to the next – and potentially final – round of interinstitutional negotiations (‘trilogue’), which will take place on 6 December (see EUROPE 13297/24).
At the next trilogue, the European co-legislators will have to reach agreement on the thorny issue of foundation models. This issue, one of the main stumbling blocks, had returned to the centre of discussions and focused attention in recent weeks as France, Germany and Italy opposed the approach advocated by the Spanish Presidency of the EU Council.
The three Member States mentioned insisted on replacing the gradual approach proposed by Madrid – based on stricter criteria for high-impact models – with the introduction of a code of conduct. France, Germany and Italy also argued in favour of not imposing sanctions on foundation models in the first instance.
The Spanish Presidency’s revised mandate confirms the ambition of a tiered approach for general-purpose AI models. The position of France, Germany and Italy are also expected to be taken up, and these countries have indicated that they are prepared to show flexibility on this issue.
The next trilogue could be conclusive. However, if the European co-legislators manage to reach agreement at the end of these discussions, the regulation could still be the subject of work at technical level.
The Member States will address, without dwelling on it, the issue of the ‘AI Act’ at the EU Council of Telecommunications Ministers to be held on Tuesday 5 December (see EUROPE 13298/19).
Questioned by EUROPE on Friday 1 December, a European source indicated that Member States wanting to do so could make their comments on the subject, but that the meeting would not be the place to settle outstanding issues. “We would have preferred the EU Council of Ministers to have taken place after this trilogue”, the same source summed up. (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)