European Parliament lawmakers reached a tentative agreement to water down the bloc's Artificial Intelligence Act in an effort to ease compliance requirements for businesses, Reuters reported on May 7. EU governments and the European Parliament must still formally endorse the agreement in the coming months.

If passed, the agreement will delay the enforcement of the AI Act's rules for high-risk AI systems, such as those in critical infrastructure and law enforcement, from August 2026 to December 2027. It will also largely exempt industrial applications from the scope of the AI Act, in place of preexisting sectoral rules, to minimize overlapping regulatory frameworks in key sectors. The AI Act entered into force in August 2024 and is widely considered to be the most ambitious AI regulatory framework globally.