AI Omnibus

The Digital Omnibus on AI (AI Omnibus) is an EU legislative package that amends the 2024 AI Act as part of the Commission's broader simplification agenda. On 7 May 2026, the Council of the EU and the European Parliament struck a provisional agreement that splits AI compliance into two speeds: Annex III high-risk AI system obligations were moved from 2 August 2026 to 2 December 2027 for stand-alone systems and to 2 August 2028 for high-risk AI embedded in products, while the General Purpose AI (GPAI) enforcement deadline was left unchanged at 2 August 2026.

The deal also added a new prohibition against AI-generated non-consensual intimate content and child sexual abuse material (CSAM), and extended simplified compliance documentation and lighter penalty treatment to small and medium enterprises and small mid-caps. The package forms part of the EU's Omnibus VII simplification legislative cycle and was treated as priority legislation given the August 2026 AI Act deadline that was otherwise imminent.

Formal adoption by Parliament and Council is required before 2 August 2026 to prevent the original high-risk deadline from triggering. The AI Omnibus is a bellwether for how the EU balances AI innovation policy with its regulatory apparatus; the two-speed approach is a concession to industry concerns without abandoning GPAI enforcement, which matters for large frontier-model developers including those operating from EU territory such as Mistral AI.