Digital Omnibus — AI Act amendment proposal

“If this legislation is approved, those protections would now include a performer's voice and likeness, making Tennessee the first state in the nation to preserve individual voice, image and likeness against irresponsible and unethical AI in the form of deep fakes and audio cloning.”

“While Tennessee’s preexisting law protected name, image, and likeness, it did not specifically address new, personalized generative AI cloning models and services that enable human impersonation and allow users to make unauthorized fake works in the image and voice of others.”

“I'm here today to testify in support of the NO FAKES Act. Our members believe that AI technology, left unregulated, poses an existential threat to their ability to, one, require consent for the creative use of their digital representation.”

Speaker: Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director. Third-party verbatim transcript.

“SAG-AFTRA members and those who rely on their face and voice for their livelihood will be able to demand platforms remove illegal voice and image clones. Creatives will also be able to seek damages from those who intentionally cause harm.”

“this legislation that provides balanced and effective protections for all individuals against exploitative uses of their voice and likeness while supporting free speech, reducing litigation and achieving the promise of AI technology”

“We firmly oppose any attempt to delay or re-open the AI Act, particularly in light of the growing trend of deregulation, which risks undermining key accountability mechanisms and hard-won rights enshrined in EU law across a wide range of protections, including for people, the planet, justice and democracy.”

Joint letter co-branded CDT Europe, EDRi, ECNL and BEUC with ~40 signatory organisations.

“By federalizing a new likeness right and coupling it to notice-and-staydown requirements, aggressive statutory damages, and easy unmasking, it creates millions in new annual costs for digital services, both small and large, which favors incumbents and creates barriers to entry.”

“Instead of beating the deregulation drum, the Commission should safeguard the public interest from Big Tech influence and strengthen the enforcement of its existing digital playbook instead.”

Joint report with LobbyControl analysing EU Transparency Register data (EUR 151m/yr digital-industry lobbying).

“the legislative changes now contemplated go far beyond mere simplification. They would de-regulate core elements of the GDPR, the e-Privacy framework and AI Act, significantly reducing established protections”

Joint open letter with EDRi and the Irish Council for Civil Liberties.

“urge the European Commission to immediately halt any attempts to reopen the GDPR, ePrivacy framework, AI Act or other core digital rights protections”

EDRi-coordinated open letter from 133 civil society organisations and trade unions.

“We, the undersigned organisations and individuals, urge you in the strongest possible terms to reject the deletion of the Article 49(2) transparency safeguard for high-risk AI systems that is proposed in the AI Omnibus”

Letter coordinated by Access Now with 46 organisations and 7 experts.

“We therefore call on the European Commission, the European Parliament, and the Council to reject the AI Omnibus on grounds of procedure and substance, and thereby contribute towards ensuring a democratic process, as well as safeguarding fundamental rights protections”

Open letter signed by Amnesty International EIO plus 37 organisations.

“BEUC, the European Consumer Organisation, regrets that the final AI omnibus adopted early this morning, aimed to simplify AI rules to boost competitiveness, instead creates a less safe digital environment for consumers as it delays key provisions in the AI Act and creates dangerous loopholes in the scope of the law.”

'Adopted early this morning' refers to the 7 May 2026 trilogue provisional deal, not final adoption.

“Delaying safeguards is not a neutral administrative step. It delays accountability and extends the period in which people affected by AI systems lack the protections the AI Act was supposed to provide.”

Joint analysis with eight partner organisations incl. EDRi, ARTICLE19, Access Now, Amnesty International, ECNL.

“Equity is calling on the government to introduce a new system of automatic rights over your voice, face and body for all. These ‘personality rights’ would allow everyone to have control over their identity in the age of AI. They would provide a new layer of protection for performers against exploitation by AI models without your consent.”

Undated campaign page; docDate records access date (2026-07-21).

“A bold ‘stop-the-clock’ intervention is urgently needed to give AI developers and deployers legal certainty, as long as necessary standards remain unavailable or delayed.”

“To address the uncertainty this situation is creating, we urge the Commission to propose a two-year “clock-stop” on the AI Act before key obligations enter into force, in order to allow both for reasonable implementation by companies, and for further simplification of the new rules.”

Open letter signed by 40+ European CEOs incl. Airbus, ASML, Mistral AI, Lufthansa, BNP Paribas, Philips, Mercedes-Benz.

“The adjustments to the AI Act provide companies with more realistic timelines. Unfortunately, the Omnibus misses critical opportunities to raise the outdated compute threshold for identifying AI models which pose a ‘systemic risk’, and fails to fix problematic wording on the extraterritoriality of copyright provisions, which conflicts with EU and international principles.”

“DIGITALEUROPE urges co-legislators to formally request a separate proposal postponing the entry into application of the high-risk AI requirements, to be adopted under accelerated procedures. This would provide immediate legal certainty for companies and authorities, avoid a compliance cliff driven by missing standards and guidance, and remove the artificial time pressure currently distorting the legislative debate.”