Politics of AI Regulation: How Interest Groups Use AI to Shape the EU’s Democratic Governance

This paper examines how interest groups and political intermediaries deploy AI tools in their engagement with governments, firms, and EU institutions, and how these practices mediate the implementation of the EU AI Act. Drawing on new evidence from 645 EU-based consultancy and advocacy organisations, I show how variation in AI capabilities, governance arrangements, and regulatory readiness among interest groups shapes how AI regulation is interpreted, operationalised, and contested across Europe. The analysis identifies emerging risks for transparency, equality of access, and accountability in EU policymaking, and raises broader questions about how the growing use of AI by interest groups is reshaping democratic governance in the European regulatory ecosystem.