BRUSSELS — European lawmakers are pushing to expand the EU’s flagship AI regulations to hold American tech companies liable for the risks their most advanced models pose to humanity, according to correspondence seen by POLITICO. The proposal by four senior lawmakers in the European Parliament would add new rules to the EU's landmark 2024 AI Act to ensure that companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic could be held liable when their technology is deployed in unforeseen ways. The move shows Brussels is waking up to a reality in which AI-powered harm is already happening, and risks are multiplying — and marks the first concrete effort within the EU to respond to fears over AI safety that are dominating the global political agenda.
The group is calling on the Commission to introduce an AI Liability Act “to fill the legislative gaps currently existing for these kinds of incidents, so no people or European businesses are left empty-handed against these big providers when they cause harm," according to a Sept. 16 note to the Commission seen by POLITICO. Kim van Sparrentak, a Dutch Green Party member and part of the Parliament’s group monitoring the rollout of the bloc’s AI rules, said the fast-moving technology is forcing the EU to rapidly update what was two years ago the world's first major binding legislation to regulate advanced artificial intelligence models. The call received support from lawmakers from the center-right European People's Party, the Socialists and Democrats group, and the liberal Renew group, indicating broad political backing.
This week marks another major moment for global AI safety efforts, following a summer filled with AI hacking incidents and extinction-risk warnings. The topic will be top of mind at the U.N.'s General Assembly in New York, during a Tuesday meeting of G7 digital affairs ministers, and at a summit this week between Chinese leader Xi Jinping and U.S. The EU lawmakers’ call draws attention to shortcomings in the AI Act that was agreed at a time when AI agents hacking other firms felt more like a sci-fi scenario.
AI liability rules could make it easier and less costly for victims of AI-powered harm to claim compensation, for example, by shifting the burden of proof onto companies. A newfound focus on product liability in Europe would also jibe with some sentiment in the U.S. That included backing from former Trump AI czar David Sacks at the POLITICO Decoded Summit in D.C. last week.
The EU legislators' suggestion to add new liability rules shows a drastic reversal of the bloc’s public stance in recent months. For weeks, Brussels had offered a single standard response to the flurry of AI-powered incidents, warnings by AI researchers and calls from tech executives to slow down AI development: the EU’s Artificial Intelligence Act is already there to avoid companies losing control of their models or agents. The new focus on liability is a tacit admission that the AI Act alone won’t cut it.
But the push for new rules is also legislatively awkward. The EU just revised its entire regime governing how products comply with safety standards, in an update to the EU’s general product liability rules that is set to take effect on Dec. 9. Brussels is also on a quest to slash more tech regulation in an effort to "simplify" rules to help businesses grow.
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