Cambridge Commentary on EU General-Purpose AI Law

Commentary

1. General remarks

1.1. Introduction

1Article 64 AI Act¹ is entitled ‘ AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. ’ and concerns the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. ’s mission and its relationship with the Commission and Member States.² The AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. – short for European Artificial Intelligence Office³ – is part of the Commission’s administrative structure as Directorate A of the Directorate-General for Communication Networks, Content and Technology (“DG CNECT”)⁴ and plays a key role in the governance of AI at the EU level.⁵ In particular, it carries out many relevant tasks concerning the governance of general-purpose AI (“GPAI”) models,⁶ supporting the Commission’s monitoring, supervision and enforcement of corresponding GPAI model obligations.⁷

2The AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. was established under Article 1(1) of the Commission Decision of January 2024 establishing the European Artificial Intelligence Office (C/2024/1459) (“Establishment Decision”)⁸ – in anticipation of the then forthcoming AI Act.⁹ By establishing the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. before the adoption of the AI Act, the Commission sought to ‘allow for the preparation of the implementation of the [AI Act] to start as soon as possible’.¹⁰ As evidenced by the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. ’s nature as a Commission directorate,¹¹ the European Parliament’s proposal to establish the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. as an independent body of the Union with legal personality¹² did not survive the trilogue negotiations.¹³ Interestingly, the Commission’s original draft AI Act dated April 2021 did not provide for an AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. at all.¹⁴

3Provisions on the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. ’s establishment, nature and functions are distributed across both the Establishment Decision and the AI Act.¹⁵ In particular, Article 1 of the Establishment Decision concerns the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. ’s establishment, whereas Articles 2 and 3 concern its mission and tasks. In the AI Act, Articles 3(47), 64 and 88(1) are of particular relevance to the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. and its role.¹⁶ Article 3(47) defines the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. as ‘the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems Article 3(1) AI Act: ‘AI system’ means a machine-based system that is designed to operate with varying levels of autonomy and that may exhibit adaptiveness after deployment, and that, for explicit or implicit objectives, infers, from the input it receives, how to generate outputs such as predictions, content, recommendations, or decisions that can influence physical or virtual environments. and general-purpose AI models Article 3(63) AI Act: ‘general-purpose AI model’ means an AI model, including where such an AI model is trained with a large amount of data using self-supervision at scale, that displays significant generality and is capable of competently performing a wide range of distinct tasks regardless of the way the model is placed on the market and that can be integrated into a variety of downstream systems or applications, except AI models that are used for research, development or prototyping activities before they are placed on the market. , and AI governance, provided for in [the Establishment Decision]’. This article also provides that the AI Act’s references to the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. shall be construed as references to the Commission.¹⁷

4Article 64, located in the AI Act’s chapter on ‘Governance’,¹⁸ complements this definition by outlining an aspect of the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. ’s mission in its first paragraph¹⁹ and requiring Member States to support the work of the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. in its second paragraph.²⁰ Article 88(1), which opens the AI Act’s section on ‘Supervision, investigation, enforcement and monitoring in respect of providers Article 3(3) AI Act: ‘provider’ means a natural or legal person, public authority, agency or other body that develops an AI system or a general-purpose AI model or that has an AI system or a general-purpose AI model developed and places it on the market or puts the AI system into service under its own name or trademark, whether for payment or free of charge. of general-purpose AI models Article 3(63) AI Act: ‘general-purpose AI model’ means an AI model, including where such an AI model is trained with a large amount of data using self-supervision at scale, that displays significant generality and is capable of competently performing a wide range of distinct tasks regardless of the way the model is placed on the market and that can be integrated into a variety of downstream systems or applications, except AI models that are used for research, development or prototyping activities before they are placed on the market. ’²¹, further supplements these provisions by stating that the Commission ‘shall entrust the implementation’ of its supervisory and enforcement tasks to the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. .²² Numerous further provisions of the AI Act refer to the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. in various contexts.²³

5The AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. is part of the AI Act’s larger governance framework and needs to be distinguished from the other Union-level governance entities referred to in Section 1. of Chapter VII of the AI Act,²⁴ namely the European Artificial Intelligence Board (“Board”),²⁵ the advisory forum,²⁶ and the scientific panel of independent experts (“scientific panel”).²⁷ The AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. plays a central role in this governance framework,²⁸ exercising coordination functions and providing administrative support.²⁹ Among other tasks, the Board, the advisory forum and the scientific panel support the Commission and the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. variously in the exercise of their respective tasks under the AI Act.³⁰

1.2. Structure & overview

6This chapter examines the role of the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. under the AI Act. Section 2. begins with a textual analysis of Article 64, before Section 3. addresses the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. ’s institutional status. This latter section analyses the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. ’s role as a Commission directorate³¹ and its lack of legal personality,³² while also discussing whether it has a special institutional status³³ and the relevance of its denomination as an ‘office’ with regard to judicial review under the Treaties.³⁴ The analysis further establishes that the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. is not a European office under Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2024/2509 (“Financial Regulation”).³⁵ Section 4. then considers the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. ’s remit, discussing both its role in the AI Act’s implementation³⁶ and its further tasks beyond the AI Act’s scope.³⁷ Section 5. briefly describes the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. ’s functioning, before the chapter concludes in Section 6. with an evaluation of the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. ’s functioning foreseen by the AI Act.

7As may have become apparent already from the foregoing, Article 64 is closely linked to various other provisions within the AI Act, particularly Article 3(47), which defines the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. , and Article 88,³⁸ which addresses the supervision and enforcement of obligations on GPAI model providers Article 3(3) AI Act: ‘provider’ means a natural or legal person, public authority, agency or other body that develops an AI system or a general-purpose AI model or that has an AI system or a general-purpose AI model developed and places it on the market or puts the AI system into service under its own name or trademark, whether for payment or free of charge. , and cannot be interpreted in isolation. Where relevant, the following analysis therefore provides cross-references to other chapters of this Commentary examining those other provisions and the interpretive issues they raise.

2. Article 64

8Article 64 is the shortest article in Section 1. entitled ‘Governance at Union level’ of Chapter VII of the AI Act. Its first paragraph concerns the Commission’s development of Union AI expertise and capabilities,³⁹ while its second paragraph concerns the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. ’s relationship with the Member States.⁴⁰ Important aspects concerning the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. , including its establishment, legal nature and remit are found in other provisions of the AI Act and the Establishment Decision.⁴¹

2.1. Article 64(1): Union expertise and capabilities

9The first paragraph of Article 64 declares that the Commission ‘shall develop Union expertise and capabilities in the field of AI through the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. ’ (emphasis added).⁴² Both the AI Act and the Establishment Decision regard Union expertise and capabilities as a necessary basis for the effective implementation and enforcement of the AI Act.⁴³ The Commission’s responsibility under Article 64(1) to build Union AI expertise and capabilities via the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. aligns with the EU’s broader Digital Europe Programme, an EU-run funding programme with an overall budget exceeding €8 billion that focuses on ‘support[ing] and accelerat[ing] the digital transformation of the European economy, industry and society’.⁴⁴ One of the five specific objectives of that programme centres on artificial intelligence and includes ‘build[ing] up and strengthen[ing] core AI capacities and knowledge in the Union’.⁴⁵ In particular, the Digital Europe Programme also contributes to the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. ’s funding.⁴⁶

10It is possible to conceive of different ways through which the Commission can develop AI expertise⁴⁷ and capabilities⁴⁸, including – as Recital 148 notes – by ‘making use of existing resources and expertise’.⁴⁹ This encompasses utilising ‘synergies with structures built up in the context of the Union level enforcement of other law and synergies with related initiatives at Union level, such as the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking and the AI testing and experimentation facilities under the Digital Europe Programme’.⁵⁰ It is noteworthy, however, that the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. ’s own remit indisputably extends beyond expertise development and capability building,⁵¹ encompassing direct participation in implementation, supervision, monitoring, investigation and enforcement responsibilities concerning GPAI models.⁵²

2.2. Article 64(2): Relationship with Member States

11Article 64(2) provides that Member States ‘shall facilitate the tasks entrusted to the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. ’.⁵³ This duty is reminiscent of the Member States’ duty of sincere cooperation under the Treaties,⁵⁴ and resembles the third subparagraph of Article 4(3) of the Treaty on European Union⁵⁵ (“TEU”): ‘The Member States shall facilitate the achievement of the Union’s tasks and refrain from any measure which could jeopardise the attainment of the Union’s objectives.’⁵⁶

12Article 64(2)’s duty to facilitate likely extends to all tasks of the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. under the AI Act. Given the unclear reference point of the addition ‘as reflected in this Regulation’ in Article 64(2), one might read this as limiting the provision’s scope to instances where the AI Act already expressly requires Member States to support the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. in any form.⁵⁷ However, this reading would render Article 64(2) largely redundant – in tension with the principle that where a provision of EU law is open to several interpretations, preference must be given to the interpretation which ensures that it is not rendered redundant and, thus, retains its effectiveness.⁵⁸ The phrase ‘as reflected in this Regulation’ should therefore be understood as referring to the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. ’s tasks generally pursuant to the AI Act, while clarifying that Article 64(2) does not extend to the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. ’s tasks outside the AI Act.⁵⁹ The duty of sincere cooperation under Article 4(3) TEU would, in any event, apply to such extraneous tasks.

13Article 64(2) is not a hollow provision. Indeed, failure of a Member State to comply with its duty of cooperation under Article 64(2) may result in the Commission initiating infringement proceedings pursuant to Article 258 TFEU.⁶⁰

14Notably, the duty of cooperation is not unilateral in favour of the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. . The AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. ’s duty to cooperate with authorities and bodies of the Member States in the performance of its tasks under Article 2(3) of the Establishment Decision constitutes a counterpart to the Member States’ duty under Article 64(2).⁶¹

3. Institutional status

3.1. Commission directorate

15The AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. forms part of the Commission as Directorate A of the Directorate-General for Communication Networks, Content and Technology (“DG CNECT”).⁶² Directorates-General, including their directorates⁶³, assist the Commission in preparing and performing its tasks and achieving its priorities.⁶⁴ The nature of the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. as a Commission directorate is reflected in the definition of the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. found in Article 3(47),⁶⁵ according to which (i) the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. is a ‘function’ of the Commission and (ii) references in the AI Act to the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. must be construed as references to the Commission. The Commission Guidelines set out that the Commission ‘act[s] through the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. ’ when supervising and enforcing the obligations for GPAI model providers Article 3(3) AI Act: ‘provider’ means a natural or legal person, public authority, agency or other body that develops an AI system or a general-purpose AI model or that has an AI system or a general-purpose AI model developed and places it on the market or puts the AI system into service under its own name or trademark, whether for payment or free of charge. under the AI Act.⁶⁶

16Corresponding to its status as a Commission directorate, the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. is subject to DG CNECT’s annual management plan⁶⁷ and operates ‘in accordance with Commission internal processes’.⁶⁸ The AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. is also subject to the Commission’s supervision,⁶⁹ with the Commission being legally responsible for the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. ’s actions.⁷⁰ Some authors have concluded, particularly based on the language of Article 3(47), that entities subject to the AI Act do not have a subjective right to have their affairs handled by the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. specifically.⁷¹ For officials working in the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. , human resources are drawn from within DG CNECT.⁷² Additional external staff and operational expenditure are financed through the Digital Europe Programme, mentioned above.⁷³ It is undeniable that the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. ’s complex tasks come with a need for appropriate financing and staffing.⁷⁴

17The AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. ’s organisational structure originally comprised five units:⁷⁵ the Excellence in AI and Robotics Unit⁷⁶, the Regulation and Compliance Unit⁷⁷, the Unit on AI Safety⁷⁸, the AI Innovation and Policy Coordination Unit⁷⁹, and the AI for Societal Good Unit.⁸⁰ In 2025, a sixth unit was added – the Unit for AI in Health and Life Sciences.⁸¹ Two advisors are also foreseen for the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. :⁸² the Lead Scientific Advisor⁸³ and the Advisor for International Affairs⁸⁴. Upon unveiling the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. in May 2024, the Commission announced that it would eventually employ more than 140 staff.⁸⁵ As of January 2026, the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. employs more than 125 staff.⁸⁶

18With regard to GPAI governance, the Unit on AI Safety and the Regulation and Compliance Unit are particularly relevant, as they are both tasked with ‘enforcing general-purpose AI rules’.⁸⁷ Additionally, the Unit on AI Safety ‘focuses on the identification of systemic risks Article 3(65) AI Act: ‘systemic risk’ means a risk that is specific to the high-impact capabilities of general-purpose AI models, having a significant impact on the Union market due to their reach, or due to actual or reasonably foreseeable negative effects on public health, safety, public security, fundamental rights, or the society as a whole, that can be propagated at scale across the value chain. of general-purpose AI models Article 3(63) AI Act: ‘general-purpose AI model’ means an AI model, including where such an AI model is trained with a large amount of data using self-supervision at scale, that displays significant generality and is capable of competently performing a wide range of distinct tasks regardless of the way the model is placed on the market and that can be integrated into a variety of downstream systems or applications, except AI models that are used for research, development or prototyping activities before they are placed on the market. , possible mitigation measures, as well as evaluation and testing approaches’.⁸⁸

3.2. No separate legal personality

19The AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. lacks legal personality.⁸⁹ This is in line with its status as a Commission directorate.⁹⁰ It is typical for acts establishing EU entities with legal personality to set this out expressly⁹¹ or, in the case of executive agencies established by the Commission, to reference Council Regulation (EC) No 58/2003 which establishes that such executive agencies have legal personality.⁹² The lack of such an express provision – such as the one previously contained in the European Parliament’s proposal that did not survive the trilogue negotiations⁹³ – therefore indicates that the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. does not have a separate legal personality.⁹⁴ The mere fact that the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. has been afforded tasks under the Establishment Decision and the AI Act does not compel a different conclusion.⁹⁵

20For questions of judicial review, the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. ’s lack of legal personality implies that the Commission will be the appropriate defendant in legal proceedings and will act on behalf of the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. .⁹⁶ This is reinforced by the observation that the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. , despite its designation as an office, is not an office of the Union in the sense of Articles 263, 265 and 267 TFEU,⁹⁷ as discussed in Section 3.4. below.

3.3. A special institutional status?

21Having established that the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. ’s nature is a Commission directorate without legal personality,⁹⁸ the question arises of whether the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. has a special institutional status among the Commission’s directorates, and in particular whether it enjoys some form of ‘operational autonomy’⁹⁹ or independence from the Commission in the exercise of its functions. Several features distinguish the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. from other Commission directorates: its designation as the ‘ AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. ’, its establishment by Commission decision,¹⁰⁰ the fact that – unlike other directorates in the respective regulations¹⁰¹ – it is directly addressed in the AI Act, and the fact that the European Parliament’s proposal – which was ultimately not adopted – envisaged it as an independent body of the Union with legal personality.¹⁰²

22Nonetheless, there are convincing arguments against the proposition that the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. has a special institutional status within the Commission.¹⁰³ The Establishment Decision contains no indication in this direction, stating that the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. is established within the Commission and ‘should operate in accordance with Commission internal processes’.¹⁰⁴ Importantly, in this regard, language indicating that the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. can independently exercise Commission powers is absent from the Establishment Decision.¹⁰⁵ Moreover, the AI Act’s legislative history, including a proposal that the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. be an independent body of the Union with legal personality, does not determine the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. ’s current legal status pursuant to the AI Act as enacted. It has rightly been pointed out that, under the AI Act now in force, ‘the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. is a very different body than once proposed in the draft of the Parliament’.¹⁰⁶

23Finally, the use of the term ‘ AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. ’ in the AI Act does not necessarily support its special institutional status. In fact, the AI Act’s use of this term, in many instances, fairly reflects the institutional status of the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. as a Commission directorate.¹⁰⁷ Importantly, Article 3(47)’s definition of the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. , expressly referring to the Establishment Decision, provides that all references in the AI Act to the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. ‘shall be construed as references to the Commission’, providing a clear indication of the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. ’s subsumed status within the Commission. Article 88(1) further sets out that it is the Commission that is assigned the ‘power to supervise and enforce Chapter V [of the AI Act on GPAI models]’ (emphasis added), whereas the ‘implementation of these tasks’ (emphasis added) shall be entrusted to the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. .¹⁰⁸ The instances where the AI Act appears, under a literal reading, to confer powers directly to the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. provide only very limited support for a special institutional status,¹⁰⁹ as these provisions do not directly concern the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. ’s institutional nature. Moreover, it has rightly been pointed out that the ‘confusing’ use of the terms ‘ AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. ’ and ‘Commission’ may well be ‘the result of the political negotiations and the late changes to the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. ’.¹¹⁰

24Some scholars have noted that the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. resembles EU interinstitutional services,¹¹¹ citing its ‘focused scope’ concerning the implementation of the AI Act and its provision of support to various institutions, agencies, and bodies such as the European Parliament, the Council, the Central Bank, the European Data Protection Board, the European Investment Bank, and the Board.¹¹² However, while the Establishment Decision states that the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. ‘shall establish the appropriate forms of cooperation with bodies, offices and agencies of the Union’,¹¹³ it does not make express mention of the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. ’s support of the institutions cited in the literature, save for the Board.¹¹⁴ Moreover, a limited remit and a degree of interinstitutional cooperation are characteristic of Commission directorates generally.¹¹⁵ These features therefore do not confer any special institutional status on the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. .¹¹⁶

3.4. Not an office under Articles 263, 265 and 267 TFEU

25The Treaties, including their provisions on judicial review under Articles 263, 265¹¹⁷ and 267¹¹⁸ TFEU, contain numerous references to ‘bodies, offices and agencies of the Union’ (emphasis added).¹¹⁹ In particular, according to Article 263(1) TFEU, the Court of Justice of the European Union reviews the legality of acts of Union offices which are intended to produce legal effects vis-à-vis third parties.¹²⁰ The AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. is not a Union office under this provision. As laid out above,¹²¹ the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. forms part of the Commission, which is an institution of the Union¹²² and which the Treaties treat as distinct from ‘bodies, offices and agencies of the Union’.¹²³ The fact that the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. is referred to as an ‘Office’ does not determine its legal nature.¹²⁴ Article 6 of the Establishment Decision¹²⁵ further reinforces that the Commission did not conceive the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. as a Union office in the sense used by Articles 263, 265 and 267 TFEU.

3.5. Not a European office under Article 2(27) Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2024/2509

26The AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. is not a European office within the meaning of Article 2(27) of the Financial Regulation,¹²⁶ as a footnote to Recital 7 of the Establishment Decision clarifies.¹²⁷ Consequently, Articles 64 to 67 of Section 1., entitled ‘European offices’, of Chapter 3 of the Financial Regulation, containing provisions on the scope of competences, appropriations, tasks and accounting records of European offices, are inapplicable to the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. .

4. Remit

27There is no single provision that clearly establishes the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. ’s remit.¹²⁸ Rather, its remit emerges from reading the provisions of the AI Act and the Establishment Decision together,¹²⁹ in particular Articles 3(47), 64 and 88(1) AI Act, and Articles 2 and 3 of the Establishment Decision.¹³⁰ The tasks of the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. concern the AI Act in particular¹³¹ but are not limited to it.¹³²

28Given the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. ’s wide range of tasks,¹³³ legal scholarship has tried to identify the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. ’s ‘primary mission’.¹³⁴ Some argue that it is to ensure the AI Act’s harmonised implementation and enforcement,¹³⁵ while others contend that the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. , at its core, serves as a liaison between the Commission and the governance structure established by the AI Act.¹³⁶ A further view holds that the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. ’s core function is to support the Commission with regard to particularly complex tasks.¹³⁷ However, while prioritisation will likely be key in practice, neither the AI Act nor the Establishment Decision expressly prioritises amongst the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. ’s various tasks. Although the Establishment Decision lists the AI Act-related tasks before the additional tasks, and amongst the AI Act-related tasks places those concerning GPAI models first,¹³⁸ the normative value of this appears limited. Moreover, Recital 148 only states rather broadly: ‘The AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. was established by Commission Decision and has as its mission to develop Union expertise and capabilities in the field of AI and to contribute to the implementation of Union law on AI.’¹³⁹ The weighting of the individual tasks within the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. ’s broad mission therefore appears not to be prescribed in detail by law.

4.1. Implementation of the AI Act

29The AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. performs various tasks concerning the implementation of the AI Act.¹⁴⁰ To understand the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. ’s remit in this regard, it is essential to consider the allocation of responsibilities within the AI Act’s governance framework.¹⁴¹ The AI Act establishes a division of oversight whereby, in principle, Member States’ market surveillance authorities Article 3(26) AI Act: ‘market surveillance authority’ means the national authority carrying out the activities and taking the measures pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2019/1020. oversee compliance with the AI system Article 3(1) AI Act: ‘AI system’ means a machine-based system that is designed to operate with varying levels of autonomy and that may exhibit adaptiveness after deployment, and that, for explicit or implicit objectives, infers, from the input it receives, how to generate outputs such as predictions, content, recommendations, or decisions that can influence physical or virtual environments. obligations imposed by the AI Act,¹⁴² while compliance with the AI Act’s GPAI model provisions¹⁴³ is overseen at the Union level.¹⁴⁴ Article 75(1) AI Act modifies this allocation of responsibilities by providing that where an AI system Article 3(1) AI Act: ‘AI system’ means a machine-based system that is designed to operate with varying levels of autonomy and that may exhibit adaptiveness after deployment, and that, for explicit or implicit objectives, infers, from the input it receives, how to generate outputs such as predictions, content, recommendations, or decisions that can influence physical or virtual environments. is based on a GPAI model and both the model and the system are developed by the same provider Article 3(3) AI Act: ‘provider’ means a natural or legal person, public authority, agency or other body that develops an AI system or a general-purpose AI model or that has an AI system or a general-purpose AI model developed and places it on the market or puts the AI system into service under its own name or trademark, whether for payment or free of charge. , compliance with the AI system Article 3(1) AI Act: ‘AI system’ means a machine-based system that is designed to operate with varying levels of autonomy and that may exhibit adaptiveness after deployment, and that, for explicit or implicit objectives, infers, from the input it receives, how to generate outputs such as predictions, content, recommendations, or decisions that can influence physical or virtual environments. obligations is overseen at the Union level rather than at the Member State level.¹⁴⁵ Beyond this division of responsibilities and consistent with the aim of harmonisation, the AI Act provides for Union-level instruments, including the adoption of delegated¹⁴⁶ and implementing¹⁴⁷ acts, the issuance of Commission guidelines,¹⁴⁸ and the development of codes of practice¹⁴⁹ and codes of conduct¹⁵⁰, which may concern obligations overseen at the Member State and Union levels.

30In this context, Articles 3(1) and (2) of the Establishment Decision set out a multitude of tasks that the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. shall perform ‘for the purposes of implementing and enforcing [the AI Act]’.¹⁵¹ The wording of these paragraphs suggests a distinction between these provisions: Article 3(1) of the Establishment Decision contains ‘tasks stemming from the forthcoming Regulation’ (emphasis added), while Article 3(2) of the Establishment Decision contains tasks that the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. ‘in order to contribute to the effective implementation of the forthcoming Regulation, […] shall be tasked with’ (emphasis added). This formulation indicates that Article 3(1) of the Establishment Decision contains tasks with which the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. is directly charged by the AI Act, whereas Article 3(2) of the Establishment Decision contains tasks that relate to the AI Act for which the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. cannot act on its own initiative but only upon assignment by the competent entity.¹⁵² However, closer examination, especially of non-English language versions of the AI Act, casts doubt on this distinction.¹⁵³ Absent other convincing explanations for the existence of two separate lists of tasks,¹⁵⁴ the interpretation of a specific task is likely influenced little, if at all, by whether it appears in the first or second paragraph of Article 3 of the Establishment Decision.

4.1.1. Tasks under Article 3(1) of the Establishment Decision

31Article 3(1) of the Establishment Decision contains a list of six tasks. Of particular relevance to GPAI model regulation are the tasks concerning the oversight of GPAI model compliance listed in Article 3(1)(a)–(d) of the Establishment Decision,¹⁵⁵ namely:

a. ‘developing tools, methodologies and benchmarks for evaluating capabilities of general-purpose AI models Article 3(63) AI Act: ‘general-purpose AI model’ means an AI model, including where such an AI model is trained with a large amount of data using self-supervision at scale, that displays significant generality and is capable of competently performing a wide range of distinct tasks regardless of the way the model is placed on the market and that can be integrated into a variety of downstream systems or applications, except AI models that are used for research, development or prototyping activities before they are placed on the market. , in particular for very large general purpose AI models with systemic risks Article 3(65) AI Act: ‘systemic risk’ means a risk that is specific to the high-impact capabilities of general-purpose AI models, having a significant impact on the Union market due to their reach, or due to actual or reasonably foreseeable negative effects on public health, safety, public security, fundamental rights, or the society as a whole, that can be propagated at scale across the value chain. ’;¹⁵⁶

32This task relates to the systemic risk Article 3(65) AI Act: ‘systemic risk’ means a risk that is specific to the high-impact capabilities of general-purpose AI models, having a significant impact on the Union market due to their reach, or due to actual or reasonably foreseeable negative effects on public health, safety, public security, fundamental rights, or the society as a whole, that can be propagated at scale across the value chain. classification of GPAI models under the AI Act. In particular, Article 51(1)(a) refers to the ‘technical tools and methodologies, including indicators and benchmarks’ for evaluating a model’s high-impact capabilities Article 3(64) AI Act: ‘high-impact capabilities’ means capabilities that match or exceed the capabilities recorded in the most advanced general-purpose AI models. ,¹⁵⁷ while Annex XIII contains further criteria for determining whether a GPAI model meets the classification condition under Article 51(1)(b).¹⁵⁸ Both Articles 51(3) and 52(4) empower the Commission to adopt delegated acts concerning these matters.¹⁵⁹ The AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. ’s development of tools, methodologies and benchmarks under Article 3(1)(a) of the Establishment Decision will likely form the basis for such delegated acts.

33Additionally, Article 92 provides for the Commission’s power to conduct evaluations of a GPAI model both to assess its provider Article 3(3) AI Act: ‘provider’ means a natural or legal person, public authority, agency or other body that develops an AI system or a general-purpose AI model or that has an AI system or a general-purpose AI model developed and places it on the market or puts the AI system into service under its own name or trademark, whether for payment or free of charge. ’s compliance with its obligations under the AI Act and ‘to investigate systemic risks Article 3(65) AI Act: ‘systemic risk’ means a risk that is specific to the high-impact capabilities of general-purpose AI models, having a significant impact on the Union market due to their reach, or due to actual or reasonably foreseeable negative effects on public health, safety, public security, fundamental rights, or the society as a whole, that can be propagated at scale across the value chain. at Union level of general-purpose AI models Article 3(63) AI Act: ‘general-purpose AI model’ means an AI model, including where such an AI model is trained with a large amount of data using self-supervision at scale, that displays significant generality and is capable of competently performing a wide range of distinct tasks regardless of the way the model is placed on the market and that can be integrated into a variety of downstream systems or applications, except AI models that are used for research, development or prototyping activities before they are placed on the market. with systemic risk Article 3(65) AI Act: ‘systemic risk’ means a risk that is specific to the high-impact capabilities of general-purpose AI models, having a significant impact on the Union market due to their reach, or due to actual or reasonably foreseeable negative effects on public health, safety, public security, fundamental rights, or the society as a whole, that can be propagated at scale across the value chain. ’.¹⁶⁰ The task of developing evaluation tools, methodologies and benchmarks under Article 3(1)(a) of the Establishment Decision is likely to contribute to this function as well.

34As to the reference to ‘very large general purpose AI models with systemic risks Article 3(65) AI Act: ‘systemic risk’ means a risk that is specific to the high-impact capabilities of general-purpose AI models, having a significant impact on the Union market due to their reach, or due to actual or reasonably foreseeable negative effects on public health, safety, public security, fundamental rights, or the society as a whole, that can be propagated at scale across the value chain. ’ in Article 3(1)(a) of the Establishment Decision, it should be noted that the AI Act does not itself make use of the term ‘very large’ in the context of GPAI models. This reference most likely denotes GPAI models that have been trained with a large amount of training compute above 1025 floating-point operations Article 3(67) AI Act: ‘floating-point operation’ means any mathematical operation or assignment involving floating-point numbers, which are a subset of the real numbers typically represented on computers by an integer of fixed precision scaled by an integer exponent of a fixed base. and are therefore automatically classified as GPAI models with systemic risk Article 3(65) AI Act: ‘systemic risk’ means a risk that is specific to the high-impact capabilities of general-purpose AI models, having a significant impact on the Union market due to their reach, or due to actual or reasonably foreseeable negative effects on public health, safety, public security, fundamental rights, or the society as a whole, that can be propagated at scale across the value chain. under Article 51(1)(a) and (2).¹⁶¹

b. ‘monitoring the implementation and application of rules on general-purpose AI models Article 3(63) AI Act: ‘general-purpose AI model’ means an AI model, including where such an AI model is trained with a large amount of data using self-supervision at scale, that displays significant generality and is capable of competently performing a wide range of distinct tasks regardless of the way the model is placed on the market and that can be integrated into a variety of downstream systems or applications, except AI models that are used for research, development or prototyping activities before they are placed on the market. and systems, in particular where the model and the system are developed by the same provider Article 3(3) AI Act: ‘provider’ means a natural or legal person, public authority, agency or other body that develops an AI system or a general-purpose AI model or that has an AI system or a general-purpose AI model developed and places it on the market or puts the AI system into service under its own name or trademark, whether for payment or free of charge. ’;¹⁶²

35This task relates to the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. ’s monitoring activities concerning AI systems Article 3(1) AI Act: ‘AI system’ means a machine-based system that is designed to operate with varying levels of autonomy and that may exhibit adaptiveness after deployment, and that, for explicit or implicit objectives, infers, from the input it receives, how to generate outputs such as predictions, content, recommendations, or decisions that can influence physical or virtual environments. based on a GPAI model where both the model and the system are developed by the same provider Article 3(3) AI Act: ‘provider’ means a natural or legal person, public authority, agency or other body that develops an AI system or a general-purpose AI model or that has an AI system or a general-purpose AI model developed and places it on the market or puts the AI system into service under its own name or trademark, whether for payment or free of charge. under Article 75(1).¹⁶³ It also relates to the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. ’s monitoring activities under Article 89 concerning GPAI models.¹⁶⁴ With regard to the latter, Recital 164 provides that the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. ‘should be able to take the necessary actions to monitor the effective implementation of and compliance with the obligations for providers Article 3(3) AI Act: ‘provider’ means a natural or legal person, public authority, agency or other body that develops an AI system or a general-purpose AI model or that has an AI system or a general-purpose AI model developed and places it on the market or puts the AI system into service under its own name or trademark, whether for payment or free of charge. of general-purpose AI models Article 3(63) AI Act: ‘general-purpose AI model’ means an AI model, including where such an AI model is trained with a large amount of data using self-supervision at scale, that displays significant generality and is capable of competently performing a wide range of distinct tasks regardless of the way the model is placed on the market and that can be integrated into a variety of downstream systems or applications, except AI models that are used for research, development or prototyping activities before they are placed on the market. laid down in this Regulation’.¹⁶⁵

c. ‘monitoring the emergence of unforeseen risks Article 3(2) AI Act: ‘risk’ means the combination of the probability of an occurrence of harm and the severity of that harm. stemming from general-purpose AI models Article 3(63) AI Act: ‘general-purpose AI model’ means an AI model, including where such an AI model is trained with a large amount of data using self-supervision at scale, that displays significant generality and is capable of competently performing a wide range of distinct tasks regardless of the way the model is placed on the market and that can be integrated into a variety of downstream systems or applications, except AI models that are used for research, development or prototyping activities before they are placed on the market. , including by responding to alerts from the scientific panel;’¹⁶⁶

36Alerts from the scientific panel to the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. referred to in Article 3(1)(c) of the Establishment Decision are governed by Article 90 of the AI Act. According to this provision, ‘[t]he scientific panel may provide a qualified alert to the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. where it has reason to suspect that: (a) a general-purpose AI model Article 3(63) AI Act: ‘general-purpose AI model’ means an AI model, including where such an AI model is trained with a large amount of data using self-supervision at scale, that displays significant generality and is capable of competently performing a wide range of distinct tasks regardless of the way the model is placed on the market and that can be integrated into a variety of downstream systems or applications, except AI models that are used for research, development or prototyping activities before they are placed on the market. poses concrete identifiable risk Article 3(2) AI Act: ‘risk’ means the combination of the probability of an occurrence of harm and the severity of that harm. at Union level; or (b) a general-purpose AI model Article 3(63) AI Act: ‘general-purpose AI model’ means an AI model, including where such an AI model is trained with a large amount of data using self-supervision at scale, that displays significant generality and is capable of competently performing a wide range of distinct tasks regardless of the way the model is placed on the market and that can be integrated into a variety of downstream systems or applications, except AI models that are used for research, development or prototyping activities before they are placed on the market. meets the conditions [for systemic risk Article 3(65) AI Act: ‘systemic risk’ means a risk that is specific to the high-impact capabilities of general-purpose AI models, having a significant impact on the Union market due to their reach, or due to actual or reasonably foreseeable negative effects on public health, safety, public security, fundamental rights, or the society as a whole, that can be propagated at scale across the value chain. classification of GPAI models] referred to in Article 51.’¹⁶⁷ The provision further stipulates that ‘[u]pon such qualified alert, the Commission, through the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. and after having informed the Board, may exercise the powers laid down in [Section 5. of Chapter IX of the AI Act] for the purpose of assessing the matter.’¹⁶⁸

37The wording of Article 3(2)(c) of the Establishment Decision (‘including’) suggests that the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. is tasked with monitoring unforeseen risk Article 3(2) AI Act: ‘risk’ means the combination of the probability of an occurrence of harm and the severity of that harm. emergence from GPAI models not only in response to such alerts from the scientific panel but also on its own initiative. Such an interpretation aligns with the AI Act’s broader regulatory framework: Article 89 governs the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. ’s monitoring activities in relation to GPAI model providers Article 3(3) AI Act: ‘provider’ means a natural or legal person, public authority, agency or other body that develops an AI system or a general-purpose AI model or that has an AI system or a general-purpose AI model developed and places it on the market or puts the AI system into service under its own name or trademark, whether for payment or free of charge. without expressly referencing the scientific panel, and Articles 51(1)(b) and 52(4) provide, in the context of the classification of GPAI models as presenting systemic risk Article 3(65) AI Act: ‘systemic risk’ means a risk that is specific to the high-impact capabilities of general-purpose AI models, having a significant impact on the Union market due to their reach, or due to actual or reasonably foreseeable negative effects on public health, safety, public security, fundamental rights, or the society as a whole, that can be propagated at scale across the value chain. , that the Commission may designate GPAI models as presenting systemic risk Article 3(65) AI Act: ‘systemic risk’ means a risk that is specific to the high-impact capabilities of general-purpose AI models, having a significant impact on the Union market due to their reach, or due to actual or reasonably foreseeable negative effects on public health, safety, public security, fundamental rights, or the society as a whole, that can be propagated at scale across the value chain. either following a qualified alert from the scientific panel or ‘ex officio’.¹⁶⁹

d. ‘investigating possible infringements of rules on general-purpose AI models Article 3(63) AI Act: ‘general-purpose AI model’ means an AI model, including where such an AI model is trained with a large amount of data using self-supervision at scale, that displays significant generality and is capable of competently performing a wide range of distinct tasks regardless of the way the model is placed on the market and that can be integrated into a variety of downstream systems or applications, except AI models that are used for research, development or prototyping activities before they are placed on the market. and systems, including by collecting complaints and alerts, assisting in the preparation of decisions of the Commission and conducting evaluations pursuant to the forthcoming Regulation’.¹⁷⁰

38This task relates to the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. ’s role in the oversight of GPAI models under Section 5. (‘Supervision, investigation, enforcement and monitoring in respect of providers Article 3(3) AI Act: ‘provider’ means a natural or legal person, public authority, agency or other body that develops an AI system or a general-purpose AI model or that has an AI system or a general-purpose AI model developed and places it on the market or puts the AI system into service under its own name or trademark, whether for payment or free of charge. of general-purpose AI models Article 3(63) AI Act: ‘general-purpose AI model’ means an AI model, including where such an AI model is trained with a large amount of data using self-supervision at scale, that displays significant generality and is capable of competently performing a wide range of distinct tasks regardless of the way the model is placed on the market and that can be integrated into a variety of downstream systems or applications, except AI models that are used for research, development or prototyping activities before they are placed on the market. ’) of Chapter IX of the AI Act.¹⁷¹ It encompasses various provisions in that Section. First, it concerns Article 88(1), according to which the Commission ‘shall entrust’ the implementation of its supervision and enforcement tasks concerning GPAI model obligations under Chapter V of the AI Act to the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. .¹⁷² The reference to ‘collecting complaints and alerts’ concerns complaints by downstream providers Article 3(68) AI Act: ‘downstream provider’ means a provider of an AI system, including a general-purpose AI system, which integrates an AI model, regardless of whether the AI model is provided by themselves and vertically integrated or provided by another entity based on contractual relations. governed by Article 89(2) and alerts by the scientific panel under Article 90. The phrase ‘assisting in the preparation of decisions of the Commission’ may relate, in particular, to Commission requests for documentation and information under Article 91(1), requests for access to GPAI models for the purposes of conducting evaluations under Article 92(3), and requests for measures under Article 93(1).¹⁷³ Finally, the reference to ‘conducting evaluations’ concerns the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. ’s evaluations of GPAI models under Article 92(1).

39It is less clear why Article 3(2)(d) of the Establishment Decision refers to GPAI systems. The AI Act defines a GPAI system in Article 3(66) as ‘an AI system Article 3(1) AI Act: ‘AI system’ means a machine-based system that is designed to operate with varying levels of autonomy and that may exhibit adaptiveness after deployment, and that, for explicit or implicit objectives, infers, from the input it receives, how to generate outputs such as predictions, content, recommendations, or decisions that can influence physical or virtual environments. which is based on a general-purpose AI model Article 3(63) AI Act: ‘general-purpose AI model’ means an AI model, including where such an AI model is trained with a large amount of data using self-supervision at scale, that displays significant generality and is capable of competently performing a wide range of distinct tasks regardless of the way the model is placed on the market and that can be integrated into a variety of downstream systems or applications, except AI models that are used for research, development or prototyping activities before they are placed on the market. and which has the capability to serve a variety of purposes, both for direct use as well as for integration in other AI systems Article 3(1) AI Act: ‘AI system’ means a machine-based system that is designed to operate with varying levels of autonomy and that may exhibit adaptiveness after deployment, and that, for explicit or implicit objectives, infers, from the input it receives, how to generate outputs such as predictions, content, recommendations, or decisions that can influence physical or virtual environments. ’. While the AI Act references GPAI systems in various instances,¹⁷⁴ it does so without establishing obligations exclusive to GPAI systems. Notably, competence for oversight over GPAI systems lies – since they are AI systems Article 3(1) AI Act: ‘AI system’ means a machine-based system that is designed to operate with varying levels of autonomy and that may exhibit adaptiveness after deployment, and that, for explicit or implicit objectives, infers, from the input it receives, how to generate outputs such as predictions, content, recommendations, or decisions that can influence physical or virtual environments. – primarily with the Member States rather than the Commission.¹⁷⁵ The Commission monitors and supervises compliance only for GPAI systems developed by the provider Article 3(3) AI Act: ‘provider’ means a natural or legal person, public authority, agency or other body that develops an AI system or a general-purpose AI model or that has an AI system or a general-purpose AI model developed and places it on the market or puts the AI system into service under its own name or trademark, whether for payment or free of charge. of the GPAI model they are based on, as provided in Article 75(1). Against this background, Article 3(2)(d) of the Establishment Decision may not refer to GPAI systems in general but rather to GPAI systems developed by the provider Article 3(3) AI Act: ‘provider’ means a natural or legal person, public authority, agency or other body that develops an AI system or a general-purpose AI model or that has an AI system or a general-purpose AI model developed and places it on the market or puts the AI system into service under its own name or trademark, whether for payment or free of charge. of the GPAI model they are based on. On this reading, Article 3(2)(d) of the Establishment Decision would – just as Article 3(2)(b) of the Establishment Decision does – refer to Article 75(1), under which the Commission monitors and supervises compliance of such systems with AI system Article 3(1) AI Act: ‘AI system’ means a machine-based system that is designed to operate with varying levels of autonomy and that may exhibit adaptiveness after deployment, and that, for explicit or implicit objectives, infers, from the input it receives, how to generate outputs such as predictions, content, recommendations, or decisions that can influence physical or virtual environments. obligations under the AI Act.

4.1.2. Tasks under Article 3(2) of the Establishment Decision

40Beyond the tasks laid out in Article 3(1) of the Establishment Decision, Article 3(2) of the Establishment Decision tasks the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. with further responsibilities ‘in order to contribute to the effective implementation of the [AI Act]’. These responsibilities encompass nine additional tasks. In particular, the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. is tasked with ‘assisting the Commission’¹⁷⁶ in the preparation of (i) Commission decisions, implementing and delegated acts;¹⁷⁷ (ii) guidance and guidelines aimed at supporting the AI Act’s practical implementation;¹⁷⁸ and (iii) standardisation requests.¹⁷⁹

41As regards the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. supporting the Commission’s issuance of guidance and guidelines, it is important to emphasise that such guidance is not limited to guidelines on the list of topics provided in Article 96(1).¹⁸⁰ As evidenced by the provision’s wording (‘in particular’), this list is non-exhaustive.¹⁸¹ Moreover, while Article 96(1) references ‘guidelines’, Commission guidance aimed at supporting the practical implementation of Union law may take a variety of forms, as reflected in the Commission’s established practice in relation to other Union legislation.¹⁸² Such guidance has, for example, been issued by way of notices,¹⁸³ templates,¹⁸⁴ guidance letters,¹⁸⁵ comfort letters,¹⁸⁶ and Q&As.¹⁸⁷ The Commission’s role of taking appropriate initiatives to promote the Union’s general interest and ensuring and overseeing the application of Union law under Article 17(1) TEU supports the issuance of such guidance.¹⁸⁸

42Moreover, Article 3(2) of the Establishment Decision tasks the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. with ‘facilitating the [AI Act’s] uniform application’.¹⁸⁹ Concerning Union-level governance, the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. shall ‘coordinat[e] the establishment of an effective governance system’,¹⁹⁰ ‘provid[e] the Secretariat for the AI Board and its subgroups’¹⁹¹ and ‘provid[e] administrative support to the advisory forum and the scientific panel, where applicable’.¹⁹² The AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. ’s responsibilities further include contributions to the drawing up of codes of practices and codes of conduct,¹⁹³ as well as the establishment and operation of AI regulatory sandboxes Article 3(55) AI Act: ‘AI regulatory sandbox’ means a controlled framework set up by a competent authority which offers providers or prospective providers of AI systems the possibility to develop, train, validate and test, where appropriate in real-world conditions, an innovative AI system, pursuant to a sandbox plan for a limited time under regulatory supervision. ¹⁹⁴ and the conduct of AI Act-related evaluations, reviews and reports.¹⁹⁵

4.1.3. Internal allocation of responsibilities within the Commission

43Regarding the internal allocation of responsibilities within the Commission between the Commission as the College of Commissioners and the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. as part of the Commission’s permanent bureaucracy,¹⁹⁶ it appears that in principle the power to issue legally binding acts, such as delegated acts,¹⁹⁷ implementing acts,¹⁹⁸ designation decisions,¹⁹⁹ requests vis-à-vis GPAI model providers Article 3(3) AI Act: ‘provider’ means a natural or legal person, public authority, agency or other body that develops an AI system or a general-purpose AI model or that has an AI system or a general-purpose AI model developed and places it on the market or puts the AI system into service under its own name or trademark, whether for payment or free of charge. ,²⁰⁰ or the imposition of fines,²⁰¹ remains with the Commission, while the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. supports the Commission in exercising these powers by preparing draft decisions and, once approved, communicating them externally on the Commission’s behalf.²⁰² This allocation of responsibilities, which accords with the nature of the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. as a Commission directorate²⁰³ without separate legal personality²⁰⁴ and the principle of collegiate responsibility governing the adoption of Commissions actions²⁰⁵, is reflected in numerous provisions in the AI Act²⁰⁶ and the Establishment Decision²⁰⁷ and finds further support in the Commission Guidelines.²⁰⁸ In particular, according to Article 88(1), it is the Commission that is assigned the ‘power to supervise and enforce Chapter V [of the AI Act on GPAI models]’ (emphasis added), whereas the ‘implementation of these tasks’ (emphasis added) shall be entrusted to the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. .²⁰⁹

44This interpretation does not appear fundamentally challenged by those provisions under the AI Act²¹⁰ which appear, by their wording, to assign powers directly to the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. .²¹¹ Notably, Article 75(1) states that ‘the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. shall have powers to monitor and supervise compliance’ of AI systems Article 3(1) AI Act: ‘AI system’ means a machine-based system that is designed to operate with varying levels of autonomy and that may exhibit adaptiveness after deployment, and that, for explicit or implicit objectives, infers, from the input it receives, how to generate outputs such as predictions, content, recommendations, or decisions that can influence physical or virtual environments. based on GPAI models that are developed by the GPAI model’s provider Article 3(3) AI Act: ‘provider’ means a natural or legal person, public authority, agency or other body that develops an AI system or a general-purpose AI model or that has an AI system or a general-purpose AI model developed and places it on the market or puts the AI system into service under its own name or trademark, whether for payment or free of charge. and that ‘[t]o carry out its monitoring and supervision tasks, the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. shall have […] powers of a market surveillance authority Article 3(26) AI Act: ‘market surveillance authority’ means the national authority carrying out the activities and taking the measures pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2019/1020. ’ (emphasis added).²¹² Were the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. able to exercise powers under this provision independently of the Commission as a collegiate body, the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. would occupy a unique position within the Commission,²¹³ comparable only, to a limited extent, to that of OLAF.²¹⁴ However, it appears doubtful that the legislature intended to confer such a unique status upon the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. .²¹⁵ It must be recalled that, pursuant to Article 3(47), all references to the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. must be construed as references to the Commission. This implies that the AI Act does not confer any exclusive powers on the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. but rather, in line with the principle of collegiate responsibility, empowers the Commission as a collegiate body.²¹⁶ Separate supervision and enforcement powers of the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. would therefore be necessarily duplicative and, at least in the context of Article 75(1), likely contradict the provision’s purpose ‘to avoid overlapping competences’.²¹⁷ Moreover, unlike in the case of OLAF,²¹⁸ the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. ’s Establishment Decision contains no indication that the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. may independently exercise the Commission’s powers.²¹⁹ Concerning the obligations for GPAI model providers Article 3(3) AI Act: ‘provider’ means a natural or legal person, public authority, agency or other body that develops an AI system or a general-purpose AI model or that has an AI system or a general-purpose AI model developed and places it on the market or puts the AI system into service under its own name or trademark, whether for payment or free of charge. specifically, Article 88(1) clarifies that it is the Commission that is empowered to supervise and enforce Chapter V, whereas the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. implements these tasks.²²⁰

4.2. Further tasks and international cooperation

45Unlike the AI Act-related tasks outlined in Articles 2(1) and 3, Article 2(2) of the Establishment Decision assigns the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. four ‘additional tasks’ with a broader remit.²²¹ These encompass²²² (i) contributing to international AI cooperation,²²³ (ii) supporting actions and policies that harness AI’s societal and industrial benefits,²²⁴ (iii) promoting the development and adoption of beneficial AI systems Article 3(1) AI Act: ‘AI system’ means a machine-based system that is designed to operate with varying levels of autonomy and that may exhibit adaptiveness after deployment, and that, for explicit or implicit objectives, infers, from the input it receives, how to generate outputs such as predictions, content, recommendations, or decisions that can influence physical or virtual environments. and applications,²²⁵ and (iv) monitoring AI markets and technologies.²²⁶

46The Establishment Decision envisages that the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. supports the Commission’s international cooperation by promoting the ‘responsible stewardship of AI’ and the Union’s ‘approach to trustworthy’ AI.²²⁷ The Establishment Decision also foresees the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. contributing to international AI regulation and governance cooperation as well as the implementation of international AI agreements.²²⁸ As part of this international effort, the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. forms part of the International Network of AI Safety Institutes, launched in November 2024.²²⁹ Consisting of AI safety and security institutions from Australia, Canada, the European Commission, France, Japan, Kenya, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the United States, the network aims ‘to catalyze a new phase of international cooperation on AI safety’ by advancing research on AI risks Article 3(2) AI Act: ‘risk’ means the combination of the probability of an occurrence of harm and the severity of that harm. and capabilities, developing best practices for testing, and sharing relevant information and technical tools internationally.²³⁰ In this context, the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. contributed to the third joint testing exercise of the International Network of AI Safety Institutes in July 2025 concerning the evaluation of AI agents.²³¹

5. Operative functioning

47According to Recital 7 of the Establishment Decision, the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. ‘should operate in accordance with Commission internal processes’.²³² As the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. is a Commission directorate,²³³ the Commission’s rules of procedure apply.²³⁴

48In addition, Articles 3(3) and 4–7 of the Establishment Decision govern how the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. should perform its various tasks,²³⁵ requiring it to cooperate with (i) stakeholders;²³⁶ (ii) other Commission Directorate-Generals and services;²³⁷ (iii) Union bodies, offices and agencies;²³⁸ (iv) Member States authorities and bodies;²³⁹ and (v) international actors²⁴⁰. Unsurprisingly though, the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. ’s functions are ‘without prejudice to the functions of other Commission departments in their respective areas of responsibility’.²⁴¹

49Article 78 AI Act provides that confidentiality of information and data obtained by inter alia the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. in carrying out its tasks is to be maintained.²⁴² The importance of such confidentiality is underscored by Recital 161 AI Act.²⁴³

6. Evaluation and review under Article 112(5)

50The Commission must evaluate the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. ’s functioning by 2 August 2028.²⁴⁴ As part of this evaluation, the Commission must address two questions expressly laid out in Article 112(5): ‘whether the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. has been given sufficient powers and competences to fulfill its tasks’ and ‘whether it would be relevant and needed for the proper implementation and enforcement of this Regulation to upgrade the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. and its enforcement competences and to increase its resources.’²⁴⁵ For this purpose, the Commission must take into account the positions and findings of relevant bodies and sources, such as the Board, the European Parliament and the Council.²⁴⁶ It may also request information from the Board, the Member States and national competent authorities Article 3(48) AI Act: ‘national competent authority’ means a notifying authority or a market surveillance authority; as regards AI systems put into service or used by Union institutions, agencies, offices and bodies, references to national competent authorities or market surveillance authorities in this Regulation shall be construed as references to the European Data Protection Supervisor. .²⁴⁷ If necessary, particularly, for present purposes, for any upgrades or increases of competences or resources for the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. , the Commission shall submit proposals to amend the AI Act.²⁴⁸

51Moreover, and relatedly, the Commission must carry out an assessment of the AI Act’s enforcement and submit a report on this matter to the European Parliament, the Council and the European Economic and Social Committee by 2 August 2031.²⁴⁹ The assessment may also include the AI Office Article 3(47) AI Act: ‘AI Office’ means the Commission’s function of contributing to the implementation, monitoring and supervision of AI systems and general-purpose AI models, and AI governance, provided for in Commission Decision of 24 January 2024; references in this Regulation to the AI Office shall be construed as references to the Commission. ’s role and functioning, as the report ‘shall, where appropriate, be accompanied by a proposal for amendment of this Regulation with regard to the structure of enforcement and the need for a Union agency to resolve any identified shortcomings.’²⁵⁰