European authorities have been advancing several initiatives to promote artificial intelligence (AI) innovation throughout 2024. These efforts are part of a strategy to establish the European Union as a leader in trustworthy AI.
Key developments include the AI Innovation Package, announced in January 2025, which outlines an investment plan of approximately EUR 4 billion through 2027. This package focuses on generative AI development and includes initiatives for establishing AI Factories. Additionally, the EU has seen the implementation of the AI Act, the creation of the European AI Office, a draft AI Liability Directive, and the release of a draft General-Purpose Artificial Intelligence Code of Practice. In September, over one hundred companies committed to the EU AI Pact, aiming for safe and reliable AI development.
In November 2024, significant progress was made:
The European Commission (EC) initiated consultations on prohibitions under the AI Act and defining AI systems. The EC’s AI Office is seeking input from stakeholders such as businesses, national authorities, academia, and civil society until December 11, 2024. The guidelines are expected to be released in early 2025.
The EC also issued its first draft of the General-Purpose AI Code of Practice. Based on contributions from various stakeholders and workshops with general-purpose AI model providers, this draft is open for feedback before finalization in May 2025. The finalized code will help implement rules for general-purpose AI models under the AI Act by August 2025.
Furthermore, seven proposals were received following a call for establishing AI Factories across Europe. Proposals came from Finland (with partners), Luxembourg, Sweden, Germany, Italy (with partners), Spain (with partners), and Greece. Cyprus and Slovenia expressed interest in joining or creating an AI Factory later. These factories aim to support developers by providing access to high-performance computing resources and essential tools for training large generative models.
Lastly, the European Council approved conclusions on a report by the European Court of Auditors (ECA). The report assessed actions taken between 2018-2023 regarding research support policies and regulatory initiatives related to AI. It emphasized scaling up investments in AI research commercialization and fostering cooperation with member states and international organizations.
