In the wake of regulation criticisms at the AI Action Summit in Paris, most notably by US vice-president JD Vance, the Commission added the AI liability directive to the list of legislative acts it plans to withdraw, in its final 2025 work programme.
The Commission published its final work programme late in the evening on 11 February with a final twist: the withdrawal of the AI liability directive.
This move came in the wake of the AI Action Summit held in Paris on 10-11 February, during which US vice-president JD Vance was particularly vocal in his disapproval of the EU’s regulatory approach in tech.
The summit, originally intended to promote human-centric AI, was eclipsed by substantial investment announcements by the EU and France totalling hundreds of billions of euros, essentially bids for relevance in the global AI race.
In this context, withdrawing the AI liability directive can be understood as a strategic manoeuvre by the EU to present an image of openness to capital and innovation, to show it prioritises competitiveness and show goodwill to the new US administration.
More pragmatically, the AI liability directive was losing traction at EU level for the past year, following the adoption of the EU’s AI Act, regulating AI models and systems based on their inherent risks to society.
In this context, an over-the-top AI liability law was increasingly seen as superfluous.
The Commission justified withdrawing the directive, writing that there is ”no foreseeable agreement” on the law and plans to assess whether another proposal will be tabled or another type of approach should be chosen.’
According to the work programme, the Commission intends to focus on ”simplifying rules and effective implementation” and enlists 37 proposals in total that it will withdraw.