While the US AI Action Plan is moving away from regulations that are considered to be burdensome to AI innovation, the European Union has not slowed down enforcement of AI laws. As a result, the US could still sense the impact of AI regulations.
Several AI model developers, including Openai, Microsoft, Cohere, Amazon, Google, Humanity, and Mistral AI, have signed the recently released General-Purpose AI Practice Code (GPAI). By signing GPAI, AI model developers demonstrate compliance with EU AI law. GPAI aims to reduce the management burden on businesses and provide legal certainty for compliance.
“The AI Act places many restrictions or requirements on businesses,” says Mia Hoffman, a researcher at the Center for Security and Emerging Technology at Georgetown University. “For example, implementing model assessments, or risk assessments of general-purpose AI. But there is little detail about what actually means,” Hoffman said GPAI can help model providers know what to expect under the EU AI law.
As companies are complying with EU AI laws to maintain operations in the European market, Hoffman said the protections offered through EU regulations also apply to US consumers as they are likely to release the same model in both markets.
As long as they may try to approach this deregulation agenda in the United States, it does not prevent US AI companies from following European Union rules.
Mia HoffmanResearcher, Security Center and Emerging Technology, Georgetown University
AI developers can create different versions of AI systems for different markets. However, Hoffman said this option is unlikely due to the high costs associated with training the largest and most advanced models, such as Openai's GPT-5 and Xai's Grok 4.
“Unless they may try to approach this deregulation agenda in the US, that doesn't prevent US AI companies from following European Union rules,” she said.
Promoting federal deregulation to prevent other AI laws from slowing down
Meta is a notable holdout by signing the GPAI. In a statement, Joel Caplan, Meta's Chief Officer of Global Affairs, said that GPAI is introducing legal uncertainty about businesses and measures beyond the scope of EU AI law.
GPAI is just one approach to complying with EU AI laws, said Ayesha Bhatti, head of digital policy for the UK and EU at the Data Innovation Centre at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. For example, Elon Musk's Xai signed the Safety and Security chapter within GPAI, but it must demonstrate transparency and compliance with EU AI law through alternatives.
“The fact that Meta and others aren't signing up for the code means that everyone doesn't work for everyone,” Batty said. “That doesn't mean they don't follow AI laws, they'll take a different approach to complying.”
The EU AI Act could have unintended consequences, such as discouraging businesses from exploring new AI-powered business models, Bhatti said.
Hoffman of Georgetown said concerns about EU regulations stumbling on innovation, particularly following a September 2024 report by former European Central Bank President Mario Draghi, who highlighted the need for more flexible regulations to improve the EU's competitiveness. As a result, Hoffman said there was a change in attitude towards promoting competitiveness in the EU and promoting the European digital ecosystem for AI development.
Still, while the EU is trying to guide businesses through regulations to support growth and innovation and facilitate compliance burdens, Hoffman said it has not considered postponing the implementation of laws like the EU AI Act.
“At the EU level, there is a very strong commitment that this regulation is being implemented and everyone who wants to be implemented and enter the EU market must follow it,” she said.
Global AI regulations are not the only thing businesses need to follow. Companies must also comply with several US state laws targeting AI. This could disrupt the federal government's deregulation approach.
Openai wrote to California Governor Gavin Newsom to adjust state regulations on the frontier AI model with GPAI to reduce compliance burden. When adopting its own AI rules, US companies face the challenge of complying with different versions of AI laws across the US states.
Policymakers included a proposal to put a suspension on state AI laws in the recently passed US spending bill. However, the measurements were not able to pass.
Makenzie Holland is a senior news writer covering big technology and federal regulations. Before joining Informa TechTarget, she Wilmington Starnake and crime and education reporters Waba Spray Dealer.
