November 2025 – As Europe moves
ahead with the AI Act, the European Commission has made clear that
there will be “no stop the clock, no grace period, and no
pause”, despite calls from major tech players such as
Google, Meta, Mistral, and ASML to delay implementation. The
timeline remains firm: core provisions apply from February 2025,
general-purpose model rules from August 2025, and high-risk AI
obligations from August 2026.
The message is clear: the Commission intends to keep its
ambitious AI timeline on track, while it looks to streamline other
digital obligations for companies. Against this backdrop, the GDPR
may also be entering a new chapter. Nearly seven years after its
adoption, a leaked draft of the Digital Omnibus package shows the
Commission's intent to update the framework for the era of
AI-driven data processing.
