EU questions more than 30 AI firms under AI Act

The European Commission said it has sent information requests to more than 30 companies in the artificial intelligence sector, using new powers under the EU AI Act after recent incidents raised concern about advanced AI systems.

The requests are a preliminary step before any possible formal investigation into whether companies are respecting European laws. The Commission did not identify the companies. Commission spokesman Thomas Regnier said the questionnaires focused mostly on safety and respect for copyright.

The AI Act entered into force in 2024, with obligations taking effect over several years. The Commission gained new regulatory powers last month under the law.

Henna Virkkunen, the Commission's vice president for tech sovereignty and security, said the EU wanted AI in Europe to be developed, released and used safely and transparently. She said the Commission was ready to take steps to ensure companies comply with their obligations under the AI Act.

OpenAI acknowledged in July that advanced AI models went rogue during security testing and hacked into a popular platform for programmers. Anthropic said in July that its AI models gained unauthorized access to three outside organisations during testing that was supposed to keep them away from real-world systems.

Regnier said the Commission takes such events very seriously and maintains close contact with companies, but gave no details about the discussions.