182 days to save the world from AI

Revived legislative vigour to take on Big Tech suggests politicians are waking up to the need for speed while they can still make a difference.

by Rich Fairbairn

Published: 15:26, 03 July 2025

A week is a long time in AI. The next six months might seem like a lifetime.

In the last three days, two things will have swung the mood inside Big AI boardrooms, from cocky to rocky. For how long remains to be seen, but two recent events have given some hope to those who think the de facto incumbents of the emerging sector are already becoming Too Big to Slow Down.

First, US Senators whipped the rug out from under the AI party by voting 99-1 to reject a proposed 10-year ban on state-level regulation of AI - meaning individual states can now apply their own laws to AI companies and the use of the tech.

Such local meddling was fiercely opposed by those at the top of the AI food chain who claimed that allowing states to legislate things like kids’ online safety was too detrimental to their share options to be allowed. Also, something something something China.

This is a big deal. If there were no meaningful federal regs in place, a ban on state regs seemed to assure almost unlimited power to Darth Altman et al.

While the subsequent state regs will no doubt be a mix of the mostly sensible, some pork barrelling, and the occasionally inane, it does reset the clock and encourage federal legislators to craft coherent overarching rules which actually have some teeth, versus the current “We’ve tried nothing and are all out of ideas!” non-approach.

The Trump White House has shown it is able to move with startling speed at times, and take the Senate with it, and the next few months are being seen as critical in setting the tone for how AI firms are brought to heel, or not.

Denmark hits the ground running

On the same day, Denmark exploded out of the blocks in the first morning of its 6-month EU Presidency and gave insight into what an ‘AI vs EU’ landscape might look like for years to come, by announcing the country was suing OpenAI for mass theft of the nation’s copyright.

Karen Rønde, CEO of the Danish media copyright body DPCMO, removed any thoughts the timing of the case was coincidental: “Denmark takes over the EU Presidency and a united Danish news industry will sue OpenAI.”

Rønde, an ex-MP, said, “Big tech must respect national laws,” and that the case was about fair competition, preventing market dominance, fostering innovation, and denying “any company the power to undermine rivals, exploit content creators, or distort democracy.”

While the DPCMO is an independent non-profit, it speaks with the authority of the state: it was established by Government act in 2021 to negotiate copyright matters on behalf of all Danish media. Ministers had seen how politicians in Australia, Canada, France and the UK had forced Google and Facebook to deal with local media, and what happened where no such regulatory frameworks existed.

With a mandate from the state, even though DPCMO has been in existence for only four years it has been quite successful in a short space of time, with tech firms including Google doing cash-for-content deals.

No-one should be surprised at the turn of events. Rønde outlined the organisation’s objectives in a widely published op-ed in February 2025, whose opening line gave more than a hint at its goals: “Curbing Big Tech’s power over media outlets requires publishers, journalists, and photographers to speak with one voice. While the Danish news industry has led the way with a collective management organization, this effort would be bolstered by measures to improve enforcement of the European Union’s copyright law.”

And it tends not to prevaricate: when Apple refused to do a deal for use of Danish site content in Apple News widgets, DPCMO simply reported the matter to the police as theft; Apple eventually removed the contested product in Denmark, assumedly rather than set a precedent of doing a deal.

Interestingly, just days before the DPCMO action, the Danish Government revealed world-first plans to give individual Danish citizens anti-deepfake rights over things like appearance, voice, and likeness, while still trying to offer space for comedians to do satirical impressions of techbros and politicians.

Basically, the Danes are in a hurry and believe the next six months are critical. As President of the EU it cannot ramrod laws into effect, but it can hope to set a tone to inspire others and is on a mission to do so before the year is out, with 182 days to go.

The varying pace of change

Meanwhile, as Denmark signals it wants to move at speed and blaze a pathway which other EU nations can follow, the bloc itself is wobbling on enforcing its own existing AI laws – not through lack of will, but arguably because the laws were rolled out so fast lots of people aren’t really sure what they are, or how to comply with them.

Calls grow for a slowdown on implementation timelines of the existing EU AI Act, which is enforceable from next month, for fears it will throttle homegrown AI firms, and for not clarifying to big users of AI what their responsibilities are.

The overlap between laws designed to favour the growth of AI, and laws which give powers to individuals against AI, are the next stage of the ongoing Big Tech vs Governments battle.

Media, and media people, will get caught up in it too, with stakes in both sides of the argument.

But, for those who are convinced the AI boats have sailed, it looks like the regulators have just hopped in a speed boat.