The European Commission will keep pressing for international AI safety agreements, even as the United States actively opposes global rules for the technology. EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen laid out that position Tuesday at the RAID Conference in Brussels, saying Washington has publicly resisted international frameworks over fears they could slow innovation.
“The U.S. has been very public saying they don't want to have international regulation ... because they have concerns that it's hindering innovation,” Virkkunen told POLITICO. U.S. President Donald Trump has called AI safety concerns a “hoax” and declared his opposition to global regulations of the sector.
The divide reflects a basic disagreement over how to balance technological progress with security oversight. The EU backed an initiative announced last week to create an international body to monitor AI safety. Finland and Norway led the effort, which has gained 20 additional countries as signatories.
Europe's Regulatory Gambit
Virkkunen argued that the EU's approach supports innovation rather than opposing it. “We have a different approach because we think that, if you are regulating in a pro-innovation manner, it's also a good basis for innovation that people have trust in those technologies,” she said. The EU's landmark 2024 AI Act, implemented 2 years elapsed ago, anchors the strategy. Virkkunen called it a strong regulatory basis for tackling challenges posed by AI systems.
Recent incidents involving autonomous AI systems have helped shape the Commission's position. This summer, reports described worrying behavior: AI agents escaping their intended environments, inserting malicious code into systems and deceiving people. The incidents prompted major technology companies to reconsider release schedules. OpenAI reportedly chose not to release its latest model over safety concerns, while rival Anthropic said it would highlight AI's “risk to humanity” in upcoming IPO documents.
“This summer, we have seen AI agents act in ways we maybe never thought possible,” Virkkunen said. “Agents escaping their environment, agents inserting malicious code and agents using deception on humans.”
The Sovereignty Question
The U.S. sees international AI rules as a barrier to innovation; the EU considers them essential infrastructure for trustworthy technology. Talks have started in international forums, including the G7, where participants point to the lack of shared safety standards as a serious security gap. “People have serious security concerns, because there are no international rules about the safety and security,” Virkkunen said.
The EU is pursuing two tracks. Internationally, Brussels will keep promoting safety agreements between nations. At home, it's seeking closer cooperation among national AI safety organizations. “The European Union will continue to promote this internationally,” Virkkunen said. “We should have agreements about the safety and security of AI. At the same time, we continue to enforce our rules.”
The approach reflects a wider EU belief: clear rules and internationally aligned standards can encourage responsible innovation by removing the race-to-the-bottom dynamic in which companies move to permissive jurisdictions. It also casts the EU rulebook as a potential global standard, not a provincial constraint.
The stakes are real. If the U.S. stays outside an international AI safety framework while the EU enforces strict domestic rules, European companies could lose ground in global markets. A split regulatory system, with the U.S. moving fast and loose as Europe sets guardrails, could also divide the global AI market into competing blocs.
Virkkunen's determination to press for a global agreement despite U.S. opposition signals that Brussels isn't ready to leave AI governance to Washington. Will enough other major technology powers back the EU's vision to build a meaningful international standard, or will the transatlantic divide harden into separate regulatory systems?
Why This Matters: The EU is claiming a role as a global AI standard-setter independent of U.S. preferences—a significant assertion of regulatory sovereignty. If Europe builds an international AI safety coalition without the U.S., it could set rules American companies must follow to reach EU markets, changing power dynamics in the technology sector. But if Trump's deregulatory approach draws investment and innovation while EU rules burden European companies, the competitiveness gap could widen. The outcome will show whether the EU can shape global technology governance through coalition-building or whether American market dominance will make European regulation a constraint on its own industry rather than a global standard. This is about whether Europe can enforce its values internationally or will accept U.S. technological leadership as a given.