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#Tech, Media, Telecom

The AI Act and Technological Neutrality

  • November 25, 2025
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Document(s)
Read the Issue Paper "The AI Act and Technological Neutrality"

Technological neutrality at the heart of effective AI regulation

The AI Act entered into force in August 2024, but the EU is still in the midst of establishing the institutional and procedural architecture needed for its full implementation. At the same time, the Act has become a focal point in wider debates on Europe’s regulatory approach, competitiveness, and the challenges the bloc faces in translating innovation into commercial success.

One core challenge highlighted in this Issue Paper is the extent to which the AI Act reflects technological neutrality. While initially designed around a flexible, context-based definition of AI systems with providers as the primary responsible actors, the emergence of large general-purpose AI (GPAI) models led regulators to create a parallel regime based on training compute thresholds. This risks locking in specific technological and business models and may not reliably capture the true level of risk.

Summary and Key Findings

This CERRE Issue Paper by Director of Research Zach Meyers, and Research Fellows Daniel Schnurr and Pierre Larouche, evaluates how well the AI Act aligns with the principle of technological neutrality and how effectively it can adapt to the dynamic AI value chain. It argues that real-world AI development is increasingly fluid, interconnected, and complex—more so than the largely linear value chain assumed in the Act. It assesses how post-market cooperation, information-sharing, and the role of GPAI providers are currently framed, and identifies areas in which clarification and recalibration could improve regulatory effectiveness and better support Europe’s competitiveness.

Author(s)
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Zach Meyers (1)
Zach Meyers
Director of Research

As the CERRE Director of Research, Zach Meyers has a wide remit, including managing our cross-sectoral programmes and projects.

Previously the assistant director of the Centre on European Reform, Zach Meyers has a recognised expertise in economic regulation and network industries such as telecoms, energy, payments, financial services and airports. In addition to advising in the private sector, with more than ten years’ experience as a competition and regulatory lawyer, he has consulted to several governments, regulators and multilateral institutions on competition reforms in regulated sectors. He is also a regular contributor to media.

Zach holds a BA, LLB and a Master of Public & International Law from the University of Melbourne.

As the CERRE Director of Research, Zach Meyers has a wide remit, including managing our cross-sectoral programmes and projects.

Previously the assistant director of the Centre on European Reform, Zach Meyers has a recognised expertise in economic regulation and network industries such as telecoms, energy, payments, financial services and airports. In addition to advising in the private sector, with more than ten years’ experience as a competition and regulatory lawyer, he has consulted to several governments, regulators and multilateral institutions on competition reforms in regulated sectors. He is also a regular contributor to media.

Zach holds a BA, LLB and a Master of Public & International Law from the University of Melbourne.

Daniel Schnurr (2)
Daniel Schnurr
Research Fellow
and University of Regensburg

Daniel Schnurr is a CERRE Research Fellow and a Professor of Information Systems at the University of Regensburg, where he holds the Chair of Machine Learning and Uncertainty Quantification.

Previously, he led the Data Policies research group at the University of Passau. He received his Ph.D. in Information Systems from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in 2016, where he also completed his B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Information Engineering and Management. Daniel Schnurr has published in leading journals in Information Systems and Economics on competition and data sharing in digital markets, regulation of data-driven market power, and competition and cooperation in telecommunications markets.

His current research focuses on the role of artificial intelligence in competition, privacy and data sharing in digital markets as well as regulation of AI, cloud computing and the data economy.

Daniel Schnurr is a CERRE Research Fellow and a Professor of Information Systems at the University of Regensburg, where he holds the Chair of Machine Learning and Uncertainty Quantification.

Previously, he led the Data Policies research group at the University of Passau. He received his Ph.D. in Information Systems from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in 2016, where he also completed his B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Information Engineering and Management. Daniel Schnurr has published in leading journals in Information Systems and Economics on competition and data sharing in digital markets, regulation of data-driven market power, and competition and cooperation in telecommunications markets.

His current research focuses on the role of artificial intelligence in competition, privacy and data sharing in digital markets as well as regulation of AI, cloud computing and the data economy.

Pierre Larouche
Pierre Larouche
Research Fellow
and University of Montréal

Prof. Pierre Larouche holds the chair of Law and Innovation at Université de Montréal, where he also directs the PhD programme on Innovation, Science, Technology and Law.

A graduate of McGill University, Bonn University and Maastricht University and a law clerk at the Supreme Court of Canada, Pierre Larouche was Professor of Competition Law at Tilburg University (Netherlands) from 2002 to 2017. There he founded and directed the Tilburg Law and Economics Center (TILEC), one of the largest research centres on economic governance. He also conceived and launched the Bachelor Global Law, an innovative law degree inspired by his meta-comparative and inter-disciplinary method. In his capacity as Associate Dean, he led the LL.B. reform at Université de Montréal. Pierre Larouche also taught at the College of Europe (Bruges) (2004-2016), and he has been a guest professor or scholar at McGill University (2002), National University of Singapore (2004, 2006, 2008, 2011, 2013), Northwestern University (2009-2010, 2016-2017), Sciences Po (2012), the University of Pennsylvania (2015) and the Inter-Disciplinary Center (IDC, 2016).

Pierre Larouche’s research centers around economic governance, and in particular how law and regulation struggle to deal with complex phenomena such as innovation. An expert in competition law and civil liability, his works have been cited by the European Court of Justice and the UK Supreme Court, and they have influenced EU policy on electronic communications, competition and standardisation.

Prof. Pierre Larouche holds the chair of Law and Innovation at Université de Montréal, where he also directs the PhD programme on Innovation, Science, Technology and Law.

A graduate of McGill University, Bonn University and Maastricht University and a law clerk at the Supreme Court of Canada, Pierre Larouche was Professor of Competition Law at Tilburg University (Netherlands) from 2002 to 2017. There he founded and directed the Tilburg Law and Economics Center (TILEC), one of the largest research centres on economic governance. He also conceived and launched the Bachelor Global Law, an innovative law degree inspired by his meta-comparative and inter-disciplinary method. In his capacity as Associate Dean, he led the LL.B. reform at Université de Montréal. Pierre Larouche also taught at the College of Europe (Bruges) (2004-2016), and he has been a guest professor or scholar at McGill University (2002), National University of Singapore (2004, 2006, 2008, 2011, 2013), Northwestern University (2009-2010, 2016-2017), Sciences Po (2012), the University of Pennsylvania (2015) and the Inter-Disciplinary Center (IDC, 2016).

Pierre Larouche’s research centers around economic governance, and in particular how law and regulation struggle to deal with complex phenomena such as innovation. An expert in competition law and civil liability, his works have been cited by the European Court of Justice and the UK Supreme Court, and they have influenced EU policy on electronic communications, competition and standardisation.

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