The Gift Nobody Wanted

Last month I wrote about AI governance theatre: the committees, the spreadsheets, the policy documents nobody has touched in 18 months. The responses told me everything I needed to know. A lot of you recognised the description. Some of you sent it to your compliance team.

Then, on 7 May, something interesting happened. The EU Council and Parliament reached a provisional agreement to extend the EU AI Act's enforcement deadline for high-risk AI systems. The original date of 2 August 2026 has moved to 2 December 2027. Sixteen months of breathing room, handed to every enterprise in Europe overnight.

The reactions I have seen since fall into two very distinct camps. And which camp your organisation lands in will likely determine whether December 2027 is a non-event or a crisis.