With its proposed EU AI Act, the EU is aspiring to lead the world in admiral AI regulation (April 2021). In this brief, we summarise and comment on the ‘Presidency compromise text’, which is a revised version of the proposed act reflecting the consultation and deliberation by member states and actors (November 2021). The compromise text echoes the sentiment of the original text, much of which remains largely unchanged. However, there are important shifts and some significant changes. Our main comments focus on exemptions to the act with respect to national security; changes that seek to further protect research, development and innovation; and the attempt to clarify the draft legislation’s stance on algorithmic manipulation. Our target readership for this paper is those who are interested in tracking the evolution of the proposed EU AI act, such as policy-makers and those in the legal profession.

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