The Digital Omnibus, introduced in November 2025, amends the AI Act alongside the GDPR, e-Privacy Directive, and Data Act. The original AI Act took effect in August 2024 and established a tiered timeline: prohibitions on certain AI uses from February 2025, general-purpose AI rules from August 2025, and high-risk system obligations from August 2026. The Omnibus was designed to delay these deadlines to allow time for standards and notified bodies to prepare. A consensus ban on non-consensual intimate image AI—added after the 2025 Grok controversy—could not break the impasse.
Attorneys should monitor the May negotiations closely. If talks fail, firms face immediate compliance obligations for high-risk AI systems in August 2026, with enforcement and fines following. The EU's rollout of the world's strictest AI rules depends on resolving this deadlock before summer.