The world’s first comprehensive AI law, the EU Artificial Intelligence Act is here.

The European Union has introduced new legislation on artificial intelligence: The EU AI Act. It lays the foundations for the regulation of AI in the EU.

As part of its digital strategy, the EU wants to regulate artificial intelligence (AI) to ensure better conditions for the development and use of this innovative technology. AI can create many benefits, such as better healthcare; safer and cleaner transport; more efficient manufacturing; and cheaper and more sustainable energy.

In April 2021, the European Commission proposed the first EU regulatory framework for AI. It says that AI systems that can be used in different applications are analysed and classified according to the risk they pose to users. The different risk levels will mean more or less regulation.

Purpose of this new Act is to make sure that AI systems used in the EU are safe, transparent, traceable, non-discriminatory and environmentally friendly. AI systems should be overseen by people, rather than by automation, to prevent harmful outcomes.

The AI Act is a European regulation on artificial intelligence (AI) – the first comprehensive regulation on AI by a major regulator anywhere. The Act assigns applications of AI to three risk categories. First, applications and systems that create an unacceptable risk are banned. Second, high-risk applications, such as a CV-scanning tool that ranks job applicants, are subject to specific legal requirements. Lastly, applications not explicitly banned or listed as high-risk are largely left unregulated.

Why should you care? AI applications influence what information you see online by predicting what content is engaging to you, capture and analyse data from faces to enforce laws or personalise advertisements, and are used to diagnose and treat cancer. In other words, AI affects many parts of your life.

The purpose of this Regulation is to improve the functioning of the internal market and promote the uptake of human-centric and trustworthy artificial intelligence (AI), while ensuring a high level of protection of health, safety, fundamental rights enshrined in the Charter, including democracy, the rule of law and environmental protection, against the harmful effects of AI systems in the Union and supporting innovation.

This Regulation lays down:
(a) harmonised rules for the placing on the market, the putting into service, and the use of AI systems in the Union;
(b) prohibitions of certain AI practices;
(c) specific requirements for high-risk AI systems and obligations for operators of such systems;
(d) harmonised transparency rules for certain AI systems;
(e) harmonised rules for the placing on the market of general-purpose AI models;
(f) rules on market monitoring, market surveillance, governance and enforcement;
(g) measures to support innovation, with a particular focus on SMEs, including startups.

This Regulation applies to:
(a) providers placing on the market or putting into service AI systems or placing on the market general-purpose AI models in the Union, irrespective of whether those providers are established or located within the Union or in a third country;
(b) deployers of AI systems that have their place of establishment or are located within the Union;
(c) providers and deployers of AI systems that have their place of establishment or are located in a third country, where the output produced by the AI system is used in the Union;
(d) importers and distributors of AI systems;
(e) product manufacturers placing on the market or putting into service an AI system together with their product and under their own name or trademark;
(f) authorised representatives of providers, which are not established in the Union;
(g) affected persons that are located in the Union.

Like the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in 2018, the EU AI Act could become a global standard, determining to what extent AI has a positive rather than negative effect on your life wherever you may be.

References: European Parliament, Future of Life Institute, 2024
Date of entry into force of the AI Act: 01 August 2024
At this stage (as on 07 Aug 2024), none of the Act’s requirements apply - they will begin to apply by Jan 2025