Parliament backs AI Act talks

The European Parliament adopted its AI Act negotiating position on 14 June by 499 votes to 28, with 93 abstentions. Parliament’s announcement says negotiations with the Council will begin later today. Agreement on a final law is still required.

Photo: European flags. © Håkan Dahlström, Spain, 2010 (CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons). Resized and cropped. Historical EU illustration, not the vote.

The position combines restrictions on particular uses of AI with obligations for foundation-model providers, including risk assessment and EU database registration. The accompanying release also highlights exemptions intended to help research and open-source development.

The exemption has a boundary

The adopted amendments make that boundary explicit. Article 2(5e) excludes some freely licensed AI components, but says this exemption doesn’t apply to foundation models. Article 28b separately applies provider obligations whether a foundation model is distributed under a free and open-source licence, supplied as a service or embedded in another product.

That distinction matters for developers. Publishing a foundation model openly wouldn’t, under Parliament’s proposal, remove its provider obligations. Open components and foundation models are treated differently; the release’s general description of an exemption should be read alongside that qualification.

Article 28b also links model documentation to downstream compliance: providers would supply technical documentation and usable instructions for those building on their models. Openness of distribution and information needed for regulatory compliance are separate questions in the proposed framework.

Euronews reports another consequential plenary decision: lawmakers rejected an amendment allowing specified law-enforcement exceptions to the proposed ban on live remote biometric identification in public spaces. The position would still allow retrospective identification for serious crimes under judicial authorisation. These distinctions remain negotiating positions, not permissions or prohibitions taking effect today.