August 2025

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become deeply woven into the fabric of our daily lives, often in ways we may not even notice. From virtual assistants reminding us to take medication or playing our favourite genre of music, to AI-driven medical devices, telecom networks and industrial processes automated through intelligent systems, AI is everywhere. The evolution of AI has progressed rapidly, delivering increasing benefits across various sectors as it continues to expand globally.

In recent years, the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) has grown manyfold across a wide range of sectors. This surge is largely driven by advances in algorithms, computing techniques, the vast amounts of data generated through ICT - the digitisation of systems, and the increasing affordability of high-performance processing power. These factors have collectively fuelled significant breakthroughs in AI technologies, including the development of large language models (LLMs) that have the potential to profoundly impact society.

The European Union (EU) has taken a leading role globally towards shaping a comprehensive, ethical, and human-centric policy framework for Artificial Intelligence (AI). The EU approach is grounded in the belief that AI must serve people, not endanger their safety, respect fundamental rights, and align with European values of human rights, democracy, and the rule of law. The EU strategy supports the rules-based global order that adequately balances innovation with public trust and safety.

EU’s ethical foundation for AI was laid by the High-Level Expert Group on AI (AI HLEG), which published Ethics Guidelines for Trustworthy AI in 2019. In 2024, the EU formally adopted the AI Act (Regulation (EU) 2024/1689) — the world’s first horizontal legal framework for AI with its full enforcement in 2026.

The proposal for the new AI Regulation is set as a New-Legislative Framework (NLF) type legislation, which means the role of harmonised standards will be key with which economic operators can achieve compliances for ensuring that AI systems are safe and trustworthy.

As part of the European Commission’s Digital Strategy for shaping Europe’s digital future, the EU AI Office established its AI Board (an advisory forum providing technical expertise to the Board) which is playing a crucial role in the governance framework set out by the AI Act and ensuring the effective implementation of the AI Act across the European Union.

Recently, the European Commission has also published an advisory guidelines to assist providers of general-purpose AI models in meeting the AI Act requirements. The guidelines clarify obligations, providing legal certainty for all actors across the AI value chain, and complement the General-Purpose AI Code of Practice.

The three European Standardisation Organisations (ESOs) — CEN, CENELEC, and ETSI — support and fully align with EU's AI vision and its implementation. These standardisation bodies are working toward shaping a secure, responsible, and innovative AI future — one that safeguards users, advances technology, and nurtures trust in AI-powered telecommunications and beyond.

CEN and CENELEC's Joint Technical Committee 21 (JTC 21) plays a central role in Europe for developing the harmonised AI standards, supportive the EU AI Act requirements particularly for high-risk AI systems. This is done via a mandate (M/613) given by the European Commission to CEN and CENELEC. These harmonised standards under development would provide a comprehensive framework covering AI Trustworthiness Framework, Risk Management, Quality Management and AI Conformity assessment, apart from standards on datasets, bias, cybersecurity, Natural Language Processing (Full work program). CEN-CENELEC JTC 21 gathers over 300 experts from 20+ countries working through five specialised groups: Strategic Advisory Group (SAG), Operational, Engineering, Foundational and Societal Aspects and Cybersecurity for AI System. Through long-standing agreement between CEN/ISO and CENELEC/IEC, CEN-CENELEC JTC 21 can adopt or offer deliverables from or to ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 42 (an international subcommittee responsible for Artificial Intelligence). This ensures that European AI standardisation efforts are aligned with global standards while also addressing the region-specific requirements of the EU AI Act

ETSI is also at the forefront of shaping AI’s role in the digital arena. With its Technical Committee (TC) on Securing Artificial Intelligence (TC SAI), ETSI is elevating AI security through high-quality technical standards. This Committee of Experts is addressing four core aspects of Securing AI as a System Component, Mitigating AI-enabled threats, Leveraging AI to bolster security defences always considering societal security and safety implications in AI’s deployment. One of its latest technical specification includes ETSI TS 104 223 – Securing Artificial Intelligence (SAI); Baseline Cyber Security Requirements for AI Models and Systems. This standard sets robust cybersecurity benchmark amid escalating cyber threats targeting AI systems. ETSI has also developed specifications to help operators facilitate their network deployment by using AI techniques through its Industry Specification group (ISG) under the label of Experiential Networked Intelligence (ENI). But AI systems need to be tested and this is the role of ETSI’s TC on Methods for Testing and Specification (TC MTS) , which focuses on the challenges of testing AI/ML systems. It has notably published a technical report on Test Methodology and Test Specification for AI-enabled Systems. Ongoing work targets specifications for Continuous Auditing Based Conformity Assessment for AI-enabled systems as well as a harmonised documentation scheme for trustworthy AI.

Lastly, as part of its involvement in 3GPP together with India’s TSDSI and other regional partners, ETSI contributes to the development of 6G, the next generation of mobile communication systems in which AI is a foundational component. Work in 3GPP progresses, with two angles being explored: AI for 6G System and 6G System for AI. AI-enabled systems are pervasive, and standards can help mitigate their threats, secure networks, systems and devices and, last but not least, help all stakeholders sell safer, standards compliant products and services around the world.