On January 24, 2024, the European Commission announced that it had published the Commission Decision establishing the European AI Office (the “Decision”). The AI Office will be established within the Commission as part of the administrative structure of the Directorate-General for Communication Networks, Content and Technology, and subject to its annual management plan. The AI Office is not intended to affect the powers and competences of national competent authorities, and bodies, offices and agencies of the EU in the supervision of AI systems, as provided for by the forthcoming AI Act. The Decision details the functions and tasks of the AI Office, such as:

• performing the tasks set out in Article 3 of the AI Act;
• supporting the accelerated development, roll-out and use of trustworthy AI systems and applications that bring societal and economic benefits and that contribute to the competitiveness and the economic growth of the EU;
• monitoring the evolution of AI markets and technologies;
• developing tools, methodologies and benchmarks for evaluating capabilities of general-purpose AI models, in particular for very large general-purpose AI models with systemic risks; and
• monitoring the emergence of unforeseen risks stemming from general-purpose AI models, including by responding to alerts from the scientific panel.