The European Commission has implemented a new policy prohibiting AI-powered virtual assistants from participating in its online meetings, first enforced during a recent call with digital policy support offices. This move comes amid the rising prominence of AI agents - autonomous assistants capable of handling multiple tasks, including joining meetings and taking notes. While the Commission declined to detail the policy's rationale, it follows their March 31 package addressing virtual worlds, which acknowledged AI agents as software applications operating autonomously within virtual environments. Major tech companies like OpenAI, Microsoft, and Mistral are actively developing AI agent applications, which will need to comply with the EU's AI Act.