The European Commission recently rejected calls from major tech companies to pause the EU AI Act; it has since thrown a lifeline of sorts, rushing out detailed implementation guidance on general-purpose AI rules with just two weeks to spare before compliance becomes mandatory.

Under the EU AI Act, providers of general-purpose or foundation AI models, like OpenAI’s GPT-4, will be subject to evaluations and risk assessment requirements prior to systems being made available to users in Europe.

Several big-name firms, including ASML, Mercedes-Benz, and United Internet, recently called for the Act to be paused, arguing that it adds complexity that would hinder continental AI development. Earlier this year Dell came out saying the AI Act would impose “overly burdensome obligations.”

In a bid to provide more clarity ahead of the rules on general-purpose models coming into force on August 2, the European Commission unveiled a hefty outline it contends provides “legal certainty for all actors across the AI value chain”.

The 36-page document provides clarification of basic definitions like ‘what is a general-purpose AI model’ and ‘who qualifies as a provider’ – fundamental questions that some of the dissenting tech firms previously argued should have been resolved before setting compliance deadlines.

Under the rules, a model trained using computational resources exceeding 10^23 floating point operations (FLOPS) would be subject to the requirements, regardless of whether it outputs text, image, video, or audio.

The document also includes templates that developers can use to disclose their training data, with firms required to provide transparency on the information used to develop their models.

The guidelines also clarify timing: models released after August 2, 2025, must comply immediately, while existing models have until August 2027 to meet requirements – meaning European regulators may just get a look at the training data used to build earlier iterations of ChatGPT.

While compliance kicks off in August 2025, it’ll take a full 12 months for the Commission’s enforcement powers to enter into force, giving companies a grace period that the Commission publicly refused to grant.

From August 2, 2026, providers of general-purpose AI models that fail to meet their AI Act requirements face hefty fines, ranging from $8 million or 1.5% of global annual revenue, up to $38 million or 7% of revenue.

“Developed through extensive public consultation with diverse stakeholders, these guidelines, though not legally binding, reflect the Commission's interpretation and will guide enforcement,” a Commission publication on the guidelines reads.

Henna Virkkunen, EVP for tech sovereignty, security, and democracy, said: “By providing legal certainty on the scope of the AI Act obligations for general-purpose AI providers, we are helping AI actors, from start-ups to major developers, to innovate with confidence, while ensuring their models are safe, transparent, and aligned with European values.” 

Carrot for the clock-stoppers

The Commission’s guidance for general-purpose AI comes just a handful of weeks after it firmly shut the door on attempts to push back the Act.

Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier said earlier this month that “there is no stop the clock” despite the myriad of letters and calls to action from big-name companies calling for the pause button.

Companies like those who signed the recent call for a two-year “clock stop” contend they need more time to get ready for the sweeping regulatory provisions, including rules related to general-purpose AI.

Those companies had also sought clarity on the risk classification of general-purpose hardware and infrastructure components, such as servers, storage, and networking equipment.

The core of the EU AI Act is around how AI and related systems impact civil rights, with every AI system deployed in the EU being ranked on its potential impact on those rights.

The signatories had called for general-purpose hardware to be classified as low risk “regardless of the context or to whom they are deployed.”