Members of European Parliament civil liberties committee question core amendments to AI Act and GDPR under Omnibus proposals
28 January 26
Elisar Bashir
In an exchange of views with European Commission representatives, members from the major political groups (EPP, S&D, Renew and Greens) raised concerns about the motivation behind the AI Omnibus proposal to amend the AI Act and delay the application of the rules for high-risk AI systems. While broadly supportive of the Commission’s stated objective of simplification, several MEPs warned that the proposed changes to the GDPR risk undermining legal clarity and fundamental rights.
Digital Markets Act: European Commission to further specify Google’s interoperability and search data access obligations
27 January 26
Javier Huerta Bravo
On interoperability, Google should provide third-party AI providers with effective interoperability with the features controlled by its operating system Android, and used for the gatekeeper’s own services, such as Gemini. Google should also ensure that third-party search engines have access to a “useful dataset”, so that they can improve their services and offer users “genuine alternatives” to Google Search.
Major US AI firm sues California over training data transparency law
26 January 26
Jose Jehuda Garcia
Artificial intelligence (AI) firm xAI, owned by Elon Musk, filed a lawsuit against the state of California to invalidate the California AI Transparency Act. This law requires that AI developers disclose details about the data used to train any generative AI system made available to the public since 2022. The company alleges the law forces it to publish valuable trade secrets that give its models advantages over others in the market, in violation of US constitutional protections.
EU Digital & Media Weekly Report
25 January 26
Miljana Todorovic
This report gathers policy and regulatory developments at EU level covered by Cullen International’s Digital Economy and Media services during last week. It also lists events taking place this week.
EDPB and EDPS endorse AI Omnibus simplification objectives while calling for safeguarding fundamental rights
25 January 26
Elisar Bashir
In a joint opinion the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) and the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) supported streamlining the implementation of the Artificial Intelligence Act, as proposed under the Digital Omnibus on AI. However, the EDPB and EDPS raised concerns about delaying the application of the rules for high-risk AI systems, calling to keep the original timeline. They further recommended to clearly specify when it is justified to extend the processing of special categories of personal data, such as ethnicity or health data, for bias detection and correction.
Digital sovereignty: European Parliament states its priorities on digital connectivity and cybersecurity
22 January 26
Martin Schraa
Its positions on digital connectivity and cybersecurity are all the more relevant now that the European Commission published its proposals for a Digital Networks Act (DNA) and a proposal for a revised Cybersecurity Act (CSA) earlier this week.